In late November, NSW and Victoria imposed a 72-hour isolation requirement for all international arrivals in light of the Omicron variant. Travellers would need to take a COVID-19 PCR test within 24 hours of arrival, and isolate for 72 hours even if a negative result was received.ย
Thankfully, this was lifted on 21 December 2021, with the new rules requiring travellers to take a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival and isolate until they receive a negative result. This meant that those arriving on evening flights could potentially be free by the following morning, minimising inconvenience to travel plans.ย
Unfortunately, both NSW and Victoria are encountering something of a meltdown with regards to COVID-19 testing, the perfect storm of decreased capacity over the Christmas period and a spike in demand from interstate travel and Omicron.
Our COVID-19 clinics team are currently processing large volumes of tests.
You should get your results within 24-48 hours, but please allow up to 72 hours before contacting the clinic.
We appreciate your patience and kindness throughout this busy time. pic.twitter.com/sB7tf1fmJJ
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 21, 2021
Local media reports that wait times of up to 72 hours or more for test results are not uncommon, which ironically means that travellers from Singapore could end up having to self-isolating for longer than before!ย
Why are NSW & Victoria facing testing troubles?
Most states in Australia require visitors to provide a negative PCR test result taken within 72 hours of arrivals, even if fully vaccinated. The surge in domestic holiday travel, coupled with a spike in cases due to the Omicron variant and shortened operating hours for the post-Christmas period has pushed NSW and Victoria testing capacity to the brink.ย
9News reports that clinics are reaching capacity before even officially opening for the day, with wait times in excess of three hours. Drive-through centres are gridlocked, and even when people manage to get swabbed, results are taking more than 48 hours to come back.ย
While it’s hoped that some of the demand could be tapered by allowing antigen testing to be used for interstate travel, there has been little confirmed progress on this front.
What should travellers from Singapore do?
Arrivals from Singapore are a relative drop in the bucket, but they still need to wait in the same queues and draw from the same testing capacity as locals.ย
| ๐ฆ๐บ Testing Requirements for International Arrivals (Day of arrival = Day 0) |
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| NSW (Source) |
Victoria (Source) |
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In other words, if you’re heading from Singapore to Melbourne or Sydney over the next few days, chances are you’ll be caught up in the mayhem too. Unfortunately, there aren’t many good solutions available- it’s a guessing game as to which test centre has the shortest queues or fastest turnaround times, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get tested even if you join the queue well ahead of closing time.ย
In terms of testing on arrival, travellers to Sydney can continue to do their tests at the airport itself. Do note that the location for testing has changed since my previous report; instead of being at the express pick-up area, it’s now at the following location:
- Pronto Valet Carpark Ground Floor, Multi storey carpark: 7.00am to 11.00pm, 7 days per week
The turnaround times I’m seeing based on data points in the Australia VTL Telegram Group range anywhere from 24-72 hours.
As far as I’m aware, there is no equivalent facility for arriving passengers at Melbourne Airport.ย While Histopath has a clinic at MEL, it only accepts passengers departing on international flights.ย This means you’ll need to do your on-arrival test offsite, at one of the centres listed here.ย
As you probably already know, PCR testing in Melbourne and Sydney is free of charge for everyone, including foreigners (pre-departure testing for purposes of international travel, however, incurs a fee).ย I imagine there would be those who would gladly pay for an express PCR test on arrival in order to secure a faster release from isolation. However, I’m not aware of any options for arriving passengers at the moment. Histopath has already stated that these tests are only available for departing passengers:
Due to unprecedented demand, our express pre-departure testing at Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne International airports are now only available on the day of departure. Passengers must show evidence of flight details in order to be accepted for testing.
Please arrive at least 4 or 5 hours prior to check in time.ย
If you don’t mind paying A$295, Healius offers a same-day turnaround test, with collection centres in North Ryde, Sydney (test before 11 a.m) and Heidelberg, Melbourne (test before 9.30 a.m)- thanks to tazlibby on the comments for this.
You might also want to try Melbourne Pathology, which offers a pre-departure COVID-19 test for A$145 with 24 hour turnaround. Be sure to find a centre thatย doesn’tย offer free testing, in order to avoid the crowds- thanks to Addison on the comments for this.ย
The only other advice I can give is that you should absolutely get an Australian mobile number before coming to Australia (you can buy a SIM card from ICC) or on arrival (there’s a ton of shops at the airport arrival area for Sydney). Some testing providers (e.g. 4Cyte) require this in order to register you for testing; there’s nothing worse than waiting a couple of hours to get to the front of a queue only to be turned away.ย
If there’s any silver lining, it appears that pre-departure testing is relatively less affected. Histopath has limited access to its Melbourne and Sydney Airport locations to departing international passengers only, and recent data points talk about 15-20 minute waits at most (although this situation is obviously subject to change at very short notice).ย
Conclusion
NSW and Victoria are facing unprecedented demand for COVID-19 testing during the Christmas and New Year period, which will invariably affect arriving Singaporeans as well.ย
The tl;dr is that anyone travelling to Australia needs to be mentally prepared for a long wait to get a test, and a longer wait to get results. You could get lucky and get your results back around the 24 hour mark, but your self-isolation period could just as well take two, even three days.ย
Singaporeans in NSW/Victoria: How are you finding the wait times for on-arrival testing?
We arrived in Christmas Day in Sydney and have been waiting more than 48 hours for the PCR results. Except for announcement in the plane, we were left to find our own way and no one checked that we followed the rules to self isolate and to do the PCR tests within 24 hours – NSW Health only sent an email 24 hours later to notify us of the regulations.
One place offered paid PCR results on same day – https://consumer.healius.com.au/
but I am not sure of the turn around time is guaranteed and the cost is exorbitant
thanks for the data point- it looks like this same day PCR test is intended for departure purposes, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t be acceptable as the on arrival test. $295 though…
Sorry but this is off topic but sort of related. Getting pre departure art/pcr overseas is a real difficulty with not knowing where to go. The info for Australia is really appreciated as I will be going next month. However currently in San Francisco and heading back to SG at the end of the week. Any idea or direction on getting art/ pcr tests here? Thank you
We arrived Melbourne Airport on 28 Nov and could not find any phone shops there selling SIM cards. The only Vodaphone shop there was closed when we arrived at 6.30pm on a Saturday evening. So the situation could be different between Sydney Airport and Melbourne Airport, regarding getting SIM cards.
Thanks for the heads up- will add a note
I wonder why they don’t lower PCR testing to 12 hours pre flight.. Then no need for on-arrival tests anywhere..
t-12 hours would not be possible as t = testing time and the general turnaround time for results is near the 12 hours mark, more so in other countries where not even 24 hours are guaranteed. Also, testing on arrival = we trust only our countries testing, at least imho.
T-12 = you get results just in time for the flight.. since 10 hours is more than enough for a PCR turnaround
Just came back from Australia on Friday. Queues are now generally around 2-4 hrs just to get tested in Melbourne. Coupled with the fact that most centres close around 4-5pm, you need to be there early if not they wonโt even allow you to queue. One work around is to just pay, I use Melbourne pathology ($145) and there are many locations. Did mine at bentleigh and I didnโt have to queue at all since they donโt allow free covid testing there. The result came back 12 hrs later. All the best though!:)
thank you! have updated with that data point.
Hey Aaron, my friend just told me you can also do the express PCR test in selected AU airports and itโs a lot cheaper ($79) and faster. Never tried it before so canโt really recommend it though. https://www.histopath.com.au/locations/airport
you can…on departure. from what I understand, SYD and MEL histopath won’t take arriving passengers.
This is true. I paid the $79 at the website, presented the QR code and was turned away. Need to present evidence of departing flight on the same day to get entry.
Arrival in Melbourne on 23 Dec and tested on the same day at 4Cyte. Still not receive the results. I will go back to Singapore tomorrow. spend the whole trip in hotel room. Call the clinic is useless.
This is my experience with 4cyte. I took my test after arriving in Melbourne on 22 Dec and did not get my result until 25 Dec which was more than 72 hours waiting in self isolation.Many calls to 4cyte to check on the status and sometimes you get through after many attempts and sometimes waiting for 1-2 hrs. Totally stressful experience. Today I decided to do my day 5 test at a drive through test center (not 4cyte). The test center opens at 8am and I arrived at 6.45am and there was already a long queue of cars in front… Read more »
Just update. I get the results on the way to Airport. Spend the whole holiday at Hotel Room.
The PCR test queue at Airport is super long. The waiting time is like 4Hrs for queuing, 1.5Hrs for waiting for the test results.
glad to hear it worked out well! I haven’t heard too many complaints about PDT; it’s the on arrival testing that’s causing all the worry at the moment.
Test scarcity is not only a problem in Australia, but also the US. We are due to fly back tomorrow and it was virtually impossible to find a test site in Maryland that you could pre-book less than a week in advance. We finally found one (covidclinic.org) and paid $129 per person for an antigen test with appointment, and still had to wait for 2h20min beyond our scheduled time to be tested! Itโs a real problem over here. Quite a nerve-wracking experience that we had not expected having to go through before we arrived in the US.