Australians are being warned about a potential RAT trap, with some outlets selling unapproved rapid antigen tests.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved more than 30 different tests for use in Australia that meet the country’s safety and effectiveness requirements.
RATs that fail to pick up at least 80 per cent of positive cases are not approved.
“Unapproved versions may not work as expected, or work at all,” the medical regulator warned.
“(Unapproved RATs) have not been assessed by the TGA, meaning they do not come with the same assurances of safety, effectiveness and quality as those that have met Australian regulatory requirements”.
Concerns are also being raised about the repackaging or relabelling of tests that didn’t have all the components inside.
The warning comes as tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases are still being recorded across the country.
NSW registered another 9466 cases on Friday, while there were 6545 in Victoria, 5336 in Queensland, 2047 in SA, 2137 in WA, 794 in the ACT, 660 in the NT and 937 in Tasmania.
There were also a further 37 deaths recorded from COVID-19 – 26 in Victoria, seven in Queensland and two in both South Australia and NSW.
(AAP)
