NSW is launching a new text message service that will give people negative coronavirus test results on the same day they come back from the lab.
The announcement was made by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday, who stated that the new “rapid” turn around time would allow people to come out of self isolation earlier. According to Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello, people have currently been waiting up to a week for these results and have thus been self isolating for longer than necessary.
The premier also stated that anyone who tests positive will need to be contacted in order to determine whether they need medical attention and to trace anyone they may have had contact with.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/04/nsw-government-preview-site-shows-how-many-coronavirus-cases-there-are-in-your-suburb/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/coronavirus-cases-nsw-map-410×231.png” title=”NSW Government Preview Site Shows How Many Coronavirus Cases There Are In Your Suburb” excerpt=”If you wanted to know how many confirmed coronavirus cases there are in your suburb, there’s now an official NSW government site that lets you search every postcode in the state. The page shows the amount of people who have been tested and cleared, confirmed cases and lives lost. The site is yet to be officially announced and is currently sitting in preview mode, but you can access it now.”]
“If you’re negative, there will be an SMS service available and hopefully, if you are going through the public system, you will get that result on the same day that you’re tested,” said Berejiklian in a press conference.
The new text service is opt in only, meaning that you don’t have to sign up for it if you don’t want. However, this could mean it will take longer to get your results. The negative test results will be available via the Service NSW app in about two weeks time.
Minister Dominello said that part of the reason for the delay in negative test results has been because the focus has been on positive cases and contact tracing. The text messaging service will apparently take pressure off the patient and the health system so they can continue to focus on the positive cases while not leaving those who tested negative in the dark. According to the minister, around 150,000 COVID-19 tests have taken place in NSW and 98 per cent of them have been negative.
The press conference also revealed that seven new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed overnight, bringing the state total to 2870. There were no COVID-19 related deaths in NSW overnight.
This news comes less than a week after a NSW government preview site went live on Google, which allows users to check how many COVID-19 cases there are in their suburb. The site is still yet to be officially announced.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/04/apple-and-google-are-teaming-up-to-build-coronavirus-tracking-tech-hold-your-applause/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/c7o2gmoccxlolv9nt44p.jpg” title=”Apple And Google Are Teaming Up To Build Coronavirus-Tracking Tech. Hold Your Applause.” excerpt=”As the global coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and testing remains criminally limited, Apple and Google have announced a partnership to roll out contact-tracing technology to track the spread of covid-19. And Apple is promising that privacy is baked in from the start. Forgive our scepticism, but we’ll believe it when we see it.”]
[9News]