Health Minister Greg Hunt has been forced to defend the purchase of 1.5 million coronavirus tests that are not accurate enough to be used in Australia.
The antibody tests were supposed to be distributed soon after they arrived in March.
But a report commissioned by Mr Hunt found they were not ready for widespread deployment.
Australian National University Professor Carola Vinuesa, one of the report's co-authors, said the tests were not useful.
"At the moment, the quality does not seem to be good enough for these tests to be deployed in large scale," she told Nine.
"The sensitivity is not very good. They are not useful in being able to say 'you were infected'."
The health minister denied the fingerprint tests were unreliable, saying they were designed for mass outbreaks.
"And we haven't had a mass outbreak," Mr Hunt said.
Australia has recorded almost 7000 coronavirus cases and 97 people have died.
Testing for coronavirus is now widely available across Australia. If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
The federal government's coronavirus tracing app COVIDSafe is available for download from your phone's app store.
SBS is committed to informing Australia’s diverse communities about the latest COVID-19 developments. News and information is available in 63 languages at sbs.com.au/coronavirus.
