Summary

1200 swabs for COVID-19 queued for testing at the Doherty Institute, Parkville in early 2020.

Swab testing for coronavirus has been the most common form of testing in Australia. The test takes a small sample from the nose and the back of the throat using a special swab. The material captured on the swab is then compared with the genetic code of COVID-19 to determine if someone is infected.

Description of Content

This image shows some of the behind the scenes work of the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.The many tubes of samples shows the scale of testing, and the hard work of many staff on the frontline. Each tube has required a healthcare professional to take the sample from the patient, and the sample must be taken to a laboratory where multiple researchers analyse each sample in a process that takes several days. Each tube being tested represents a person in lockdown, avoiding contact with any other person until they receive their result. Each tube contains a swab that has been used to sample the back of a patients throat, or inside their nose for COVID-19 (aka the SARS-CoV-2 virus) in the 2020 pandemic.

Physical Description

Born Digital Image.

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