RAPID Antigen Test (RAT) kits for COVID-19 have arrived in Hamilton, but the supply has already been sold and even when backorders arrive, they will likely be limited for some time yet.

Although the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has recently approved as many as 13 different tests in three categories of nasal, saliva or oral and varying in sensitivity between acceptable, high and very high, the problem in the short-term might be getting your hands on even just one product.

Last week stock was hoped to be freely available at pharmacies and at Coles supermarkets, but it was taking time to get to the south-west in numbers high enough to satisfy demand.

Guardian Pharmacy Robson’s pharmacist, Robyn Ward said they were doing what they could to have sufficient product on the shelves, but the small amount of stock they had was depleted on the weekend.

“We sold out on Saturday,” she said yesterday.

“I have printed out an invoice this morning that more stocks coming, but I honestly can't tell you if it's going to arrive today or tomorrow.”

Ms Ward said even what they had had on the shelves arrived later than they had hoped.

“The stock was supposed to be available to us on the first of November, but it only arrived last Friday (week),” she said.

“I don't know whether that means it's been supply issues … getting them from the manufacturers to the wholesalers. We placed our initial order for them back in October.

Whilst there weren’t currently any limits on how many people could buy, Ms Ward said she hoped people would consider others when the stock returned.

“We're probably preferring people not coming in and buy a whole heap so that we’ve got enough supply for everyone,” she said.

James Dean Pharmacy pharmacist, Billy Shea said they were planning on stocking two products - the Carestart nasal swab and also the Ecotest, but they were also experiencing delays with getting the products in.

“We just decided to keep two of the brands,” he said.

“The first one is the Carestart, that will be the one that is very fancy … there’s a token that the customer can scan (to view) a video (for instructions).

“I’m still waiting on the stock.

“The second one will be a saliva test … to find a way to order that in, I’m going to do that today (Thursday).”

Coles Hamilton reported that they had not received stock yet, but the Horsham store had received their first supply earlier last week and they were hoping their order would arrive soon.

At time of print, Woolworths were unable to confirm if they were planning to sell the tests in Hamilton, although they are listed as ‘out of stock’ on the general website for the supermarket chain.

WDHS recommended people should not go online to purchase a RAT unless they were confident it had TGA approval.

A list of the approved RAT’s are available from the following website, tga.gov.au/covid-19-rapid-antigen-self-tests-are-approved-australia.

If people have symptoms and can’t purchase a RAT, WDHS also advised they get tested at the WDHS drive-thru clinic.