Loading She urged the public to be patient and understand the need to focus testing on those most at risk of the disease. "If we’re swamped with testing that is low value, low yield, it means there could be delays for us finding those cases that are actually putting the community at risk," she said. Recently returned travellers with symptoms, close contacts of confirmed cases and patients admitted to hospital with respiratory illness were target groups for testing. At Westmead Hospital on Monday, a stream of people - many of whom did not meet testing criteria - worried they had been exposed to the virus - were verbally aggressive to emergency department staff. A Covid-19 testing station out the front of St Vincent's hospital in Darlinghurst. Credit:Dean Sewell

Western Sydney Local Health District chief executive Graeme Loy said the behaviour would not be tolerated. "While I understand the stress and confusion that our patients and consumers are feeling, aggression and abuse of our healthcare workers is never OK and will not be tolerated," Mr Loy said. "All of our staff are doing their very best to look after our community," he said. By 11am on Tuesday, 30244 people had been tested for coronavirus in NSW, a per capita rate among the highest in the world. A total of 210 confirmed cases have been detected Who should get tested If you're getting a test, make sure you call the doctor or hospital ahead of your appointment as they may need to take extra precautions when you arrive or they may recommend you go elsewhere. You should only get tested if: You have been in close contact with a confirmed case AND are showing cold or flu-like symptoms. OR You have returned or arrived in Australia from overseas AND you are showing cold or flu-like symptoms.

Dr Euan McCaughey, a researcher at Neuroscience Research Australia, said St Vincent’s Hospital's fever clinic resembled "mass panic" on Monday morning when he presented with a slight fever, sore throat, a headache and body aches. Dr McCaughey sought testing after reading NSW Health’s guidelines that were updated over the weekend to advise healthcare workers "must self-isolate immediately and seek medical assessment for SARS-CoV-2." By 11.30am, 160 people had presented and the 70 waiting for testing were told it would take three to four hours, Dr McCaughey said. He said many of the people presenting did not meet testing criteria and were sent by their employers for the purpose of getting a negative result so they could go back to work.

"You have other people convinced they have got coronavirus but all they probably have is the common cold," he said. "My biggest concern was the number of members of the public with no red flags [for coronavirus] exposing themselves to people who may have the virus or some other viral infection," he said. A healthcare worker who was tested at St Vincent's clinic on Monday said lots of people coming in who thought they needed testing "and getting pretty annoyed at the nurse for telling them that what they needed to do was just go home and self-isolate". "I got the feeling people were scared, and just wanted to be tested even if they didn’t meet the guidelines," the healthcare worker said on condition of anonymity. "The staff in the testing centre were really frustrated. They told me that the guidelines for who needs to be tested keep changing and no-one is communicating that to them," they said.

Staff waiting to be tested were told they were not eligible unless they had recently returned from overseas or were close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Loading But NSW Health’s updated guidelines state symptomatic staff must be assessed and "all local health districts must have systems in place to arrange for the rapid assessment and testing of healthcare workers for COVID-19". St Vincent’s Hospital spokesman David Faktor said all clinical staff working at COVID-19 Clinic are briefed on the latest testing criteria for both staff and patients. Mr Faktor said the hospital clinic had set aside 8am to 10am Monday to Friday exclusively for staff, who were also welcome during normal hours.

UNSW Adjunct Professor Bill Bowtell, an architect of Australia's response to the HIV epidemic, said the Australian government should have massively increased its orders for testing kits back in January when Chinese officials first warned of the looming crisis, but it was now too late. "Testing is the most important thing and it’s the least obtainable," Professor Bowtell said. On Friday, Australia's chief medical officer Brendan Murphy warned GPs that testing kit stocks were "deteriorating rapidly" and no longer available in some parts of the country. Dr Chant said NSW was currently "in a good position" in terms of the amount of testing kits if the state stuck to current guidelines. There are "some concerns about the onward supply chain" as a result of international competition and the closure of factories in China that need to be planned for, Dr Chant said.