Australia surpasses 500,000 COVID-19 cases

CANBERRA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Australia’s COVID-19 case number surpassed 500,000 on Tuesday.

Chris Moy, vice president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), said the government has failed to come up with a plan for rapid antigen tests (RATs) amid reports of supply shortfalls and price gouging.

“There is an inability to supply at the critical moment and there is a lack of equity of access and it is costing so much,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio on Tuesday.

“The case numbers from Omicron is way outside those of Delta … These numbers are way outside of what people were expecting and this day was always going to come,” he said. “We need rapid antigen tests in play and in people’s hands.”

It came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday rejected a push for the government to subsidize RATs, declaring that doing so would “undercut” private providers.

According to Department of Health of the Australian government, as of Monday the country has reported 499,958 COVID-19 cases in total, with 2,266 deaths.

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Australia on Tuesday reported a new record of more than 47,000 daily coronavirus infections, and four deaths.

It took the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia since the start of the pandemic to surpass 500,000.

New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania all reported new daily case number records.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing sites across the country were again inundated on Tuesday, with many forced to close within minutes of opening due to unprecedented demand.  Enditem