Australia has swung from one extreme in pandemic control to the other — having great control of COVID-19, to now having the world’s highest rise in daily cases.

Across the country (except for Western Australia), COVID-19 cases are exploding.

True case numbers are much higher than official reports, as many sick people cannot even get a test or are only tested with a rapid antigen test, which isn’t counted in statistics.

Instead of rushing to expand capacity, the federal and state governments restricted access to testing even more, by narrowing the definitions of who was eligible for a test and of what a close contact is.