Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy has written to GPs urging them to work to the guidelines on whom to refer for coronavirus testing because there is "extreme pressure" on pathology test kits.

Under national guidelines, patients should be sent for testing only if they have returned from overseas in the past 14 days or been in contact with an infected person, and have a fever or acute respiratory syndrome.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy addresses the media following a Council of Australian Governments meeting in Sydney last week. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

"Unfortunately, the extreme pressure on our personal protective equipment stocks continues, and the situation regarding pathology test kits, reagents and swabs is deteriorating rapidly, with kits no longer being available in some regions of the country," Dr Murphy wrote.

"Pathology collection centres have also experienced large backlogs in testing appointments in some parts of Australia, and emergency testing facilities have had to be established in some areas to ensure that urgent patients can get access to testing."