Health authorities turned away Canberrans seeking a COVID-19 test yesterday after all sites were overwhelmed by demand early in the morning.
The ACT government had earlier tried to limit the number of people arriving at the clinics to obtain a "travel test" result, which is needed to enter Queensland, Tasmania or the Northern Territory.
Late on Sunday night, ACT health said its two main testing sites — at Garran and Mitchell — would be closed to non-essential tests between 11am and 3pm on Monday, to prioritise patients who were more likely to have coronavirus.
Only close contacts of positive cases, people with COVID-19 symptoms and returned international travellers were to be allowed into the sites during that time.
However, all three open sites in Canberra, including the Kambah drive-through clinic, had closed by 9:30am because they had reached capacity.
The ACT's fourth testing site, at Nicholls, is shut down over the summer break.
The ACT recorded 189 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the territory's highest daily tally of the pandemic.
There were 688 people infected with the disease in Canberra, though only one was in hospital.
'You'll just get in the way of public health'
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said all available staff had been rostered on to help test Canberrans on Monday and Tuesday.
She said the curb on travel tests was an experiment to try to cut queues and speed up turnaround times for results.
"I really would encourage people who are getting tested for travel to, you know, please don't try to get tested at Garran and Mitchell during that time, between 11am and 3pm," she said.
In a statement, ACT Health acknowledged that the difficulties in accessing a test were frustrating, but asked Canberrans to be kind to its staff.
"They are working over the public holidays to support the community and giving up time with their own families and friends," it said.
New South Wales health authorities have also asked that Canberrans avoid seeking a COVID-19 test across the border in Queanbyean, as their capacity is limited due to public holidays.
Queensland 'treating ACT as a joke'
Meanwhile, the head of Canberra Airport has written to Queensland Chief Health Officer John Gerrard and the Prime Minister's office, demanding an end to the requirement for negative test results to cross state border.
Stephen Byron, the airport's managing director, said the requirement had "destroyed the ACT testing and containment strategy".
"Testing is overwhelmed. Close contacts with symptoms are unable to be tested," he wrote.
Mr Byron said the fact that Queensland now had far more coronavirus cases than Canberra showed the policy was absurd.
"This is a joke treating the ACT like a place where we need to get tested to keep COVID-19 out of Queensland," he said.
He urged the state government to rely on rapid antigen tests (RATs) instead of the laboratory-based PCR tests, which are presently required.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszcsuk said her government would decide whether to switch to RATs within the next two days.
