Canberra, Jan 4: Australia’s Covid-19 cases have crossed the 500,000 mark 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 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 Corp (ABC) 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.”
The comments came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday rejected a push for the government to subsidize the rapid antigen tests, declaring that doing so would “undercut” private providers.
The country reported on Monday 499,958 Covid-19 cases, with 2,266 deaths, the Health Department said. Australia on Tuesday reported a new record of over 47,000 daily coronavirus infections and four deaths. It took the total confirmed cases of Covid in Australia since the start of the pandemic to surpass 500,000.
