Mr Lawrence said this was the "first point of care test" for COVID-19 in Australia. It works like home pregnancy test except that it uses blood, not urine.

Two drops of blood are taken from a finger pinprick, similar to home diabetes testing.

While the test will be used in official centres such as hospitals, in future it could be used by GPs and eventually at home.

It provides initial screening by detecting the first two antibodies produced in response to the virus, IgG and IgM.

The OnSite Rapid Test to be distributed by MD Solutions. Supplied

Mr Lawrence said it could be used at any point in a suspected infection. It has been validated in comparison to the PCR test now in use.

At five days of infection, it has more than 96.9 per cent sensitivity (true positive rate) and 99.4 per cent specificity (how well a test identifies patients who do not have a disease).

Mr Lawrence claimed that this made it one of the most effective screening tests for COVID-19 on the market.


He said it had the potential to reduce the number of people in quarantine and, therefore, the impact on the community and business: “Its specificity allows it to separate influenza and cold sufferers from COVID-19 sufferers,” he said.

The test, which was developed using volunteers from China, will be about a third cheaper than the so-called PCR laboratory-based tests that currently, because of a backlog, are taking at least three days to report back.

Palmer donates $20m

It comes as Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer will commit about $20 million towards the production of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which has been used to treat coronavirus patients.

Clive Palmer says he has been in contact with federal Health Minister Greg Hunt about producing an anti-malarial drug for use in treating COVID-19. AAP

Mr Palmer said he had been in contact with federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to allow the businessman to help manufacture or acquire more than 1 million courses of the drug, which will be added to the national stockpile for the free use of Australians suffering COVID-19.

“The first step is to ensure that all Australians regardless of their financial circumstances will have access to hydroxychloroquine as soon as possible,’’ Mr Palmer said.

Hydroxchloroquine and other anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine phosphate have shown early signs of improving the symptoms of some patients diagnosed with COVID-19, according to researchers in the United States, France, South Korea and China.


Mr Palmer said the trials of the drug normally took six months but he wanted to fast-track the stockpiling of the anti-malarial drug if it proved to be effective in treating the coronavirus.

"Given the current crisis we're in, I thought the traditional approach was not the way to go," Mr Palmer told The Australian Financial Review.

"I am going to be making unlimited funding available for the manufacture of the product to commence in large quantities."

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Sunday announced a $17 million package to fast track a world-leading vaccine for coronavirus developed in Queensland.

The Premier said the state and federal governments were working together with the Paul Ramsay Foundation to support the University of Queensland’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, which have developed a promising COVID-19 vaccine.

Under the funding arrangement, the state government will allocate $10 million, the federal government $3 million and $3.5 million from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

The Paul Ramsay Foundation has allocated $9 million nationally to research to help fight the coronavirus.