The Year 12 students in Sydney local government areas of concern will be the first group in NSW to use the Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT), which are conducted with a nasal swab.

They'll also be used at selected worksites, and there are plans to expand the use to other industry groups.

"The NSW government announced it would work with industry and the Department of Education to introduce Rapid Antigen Testing mitigate against COVID-19 outbreaks in workplaces and schools," a NSW Health spokesperson said.

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"There are no plans to extend this type of testing in regional NSW at this time as the lack of prevalence of COVID-19 disease in these areas does not require this type of response."

The rapid, and routine, tests that are being used at Dubbo Hospital are called PCR - Polymerase Chain Reaction.

RAT is considered a screening test for people without symptoms, if someone tested positive they would be sent to have the "more accurate PCR test to confirm the result".

Put simply, "PCR testing is the gold standard in accurately diagnosing COVID-19".

The Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Scott McLachlan said RAT was useful in areas of high concern, like Sydney, where constant screening was a necessity.

"These are tests that give a result within 10 to 15 minutes from a quick nasal swab, they're reasonably reliable and overseas they've been used as a good solution to helping them check regularly, whether people have signs and symptoms of COVID," Mr McLachlan said.

"We do have ability to do rapid testing at our three base hospitals at our Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst, where we know that, particularly for patients that come in with a respiratory illness, we need a very rapid result back."

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