AFTER the Pharmacy Guild in Tasmania earlier this month sounded the alarm over a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) shortage in pharmacies across the state, Aussie Pharma Direct this week announced it had sent a fresh shipment of the tests and other personal protection equipment to its Hobart warehouse, reported Mercury.
The company spokesperson Daniel Seldon said it was keen to help ease supply chain issues in the state, and offer an increased availability of tests.
"RATs offer invaluable peace-of- mind protection for people and their loved ones and provide the information they need to know for how to proceed in their daily life," Seldon said.
"At-home self-testing for influenza and COVID-19 is the best way to ensure people don't infect their colleagues in the workplace and vulnerable members of the community."
According to official Department of Health figures, a total of 634 COVID cases were recorded across Tasmania in the last seven days, with an average of 91 cases per day.
There have been almost 320,000 COVID cases in the state since Dec 2021, and 345 deaths.
Co-founder of Launceston-based firm Tasmanian Hand Sanitiser, Matthew Will, said the recent Tasmanian RAT shortage could be partly attributed to the glut of stock that arrived in the state in early 2022, and which expired in Dec 2023.
Will added that his company, which sells products to both commercial clients and directly to the public, had also been affected by supply issues late last year but that its supplies were now fully restored.
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