COVID-19 cases rise sharply again in Australia

Australia saw another day of sharply rising COVID-19 case numbers, hospitalizations and long queues at testing centers Wednesday. The country recorded more than 64,000 cases, up from 47,000 a day earlier. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is facing increasing calls to make rapid antigen tests available free in some cases to relieve pressure on PCR testing centers, many of which have been forced to close after reaching capacity.

New South Wales saw a record 35,054 new cases as it awaited the arrival of 50 million rapid antigen tests ordered by the state government. New South Wales Premiere Dominic Perrottet urged the public not to get PCR tests unless they felt unwell or had been asked to do by state health authorities to improve the turnaround time for results from labs. Victoria reported 17,636 cases, a state record, and Queensland saw 6,871 cases. New South Wales Health official Susan Pearce said the state had secured millions of rapid antigen tests and that they would start to arrive next week.