As the Omicron surge continues, desperate Australians are able to access rapid antigen tests (RATs), thanks to a new website.
On Monday, the website “Find a Rat” was launched. It acts as a tester and helps residents find kits in their local area.
Matt Hayward, a software developer and founder of Melbourne’s software agency pipelabs, created the new website.
Mr Hayward said that the idea was born after seeing how frustrated his partner was trying to pass one of the tests.
He said, “I created the website after my partner was searching for a test but had no luck.”
“I thought I would put my technical skills to work and build the site today.
According to Mr Hayward, after beginning work at the site on Monday morning around 10 am, the site was up and running within hours.
On Monday night, Mr Hayward launched his new website via Twitter. Hundreds of Australians have already joined the ranks.
The tweet said , “Introducing Find A RAT – Easily locate and report on Rapid Antigen Test availabilities across Australia.”
The data for the website is currently crowd-sourced through user reports.
Australians can log in to the site to report if a nearby store has stock of quick tests.
On the map, “In stock” is marked in green and “low stock” in orange. “No stock” is indicated in red.
Search for stock in the vicinity of your postcode for users looking for test results.
Although the site is still in its infancy, many Australians have already submitted reports detailing stock at different stores close to them.
The system is still in its infancy and users are making fun of it by manually entering reports.
But, Hayward stated that the website is still in the early stages. He’s currently working to moderate the site to prevent misinformation.
He said, “I’m thinking about changing it slightly so users need approval before posting.”
“I am currently working on auto-moderator stuff, but everyone has been generally well behaved.”
PM denies calls for rapid and free assistance
In the meantime, Scott Morrison , Prime Minister, told Sunrise that the rapid tests would not have to be made available for free to the public despite the fact that COVID-19 cases numbers have exploded in recent days, and hospitalisations also increasing.
He said, “We are now in a stage where you can’t just get around making it all free.”
“When someone says they want something for free, it is almost always you who will pay.”
Greg Hunt, Health Minister, also announced that more than 100,000,000 rapid tests would be coming into the country in the next two-months.
States and territories have placed orders for 84 million rapid tests. They will be available in the coming weeks. However, Hunt reiterated that the tests would not be free to all.
He stated that if there were an unlimited supply of completely unpriced goods, there would be an infinite supply to an infinitum of people.
“In addition to the 55 million PCR test results, we will also have more than 100 million rapid antigen test results…available over the next two-months.”
