A series of COVID-19 testing laboratories will progressively reopen from Jan. 4 after temporarily shutting down on Jan. 3 due to overwhelming demand in the Australian state of New South Wales. This comes after officials changed the definition of “close contacts” of confirmed cases and Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Dec. 30 outlined the government’s new program and urged the public not to stand in lines to get PCR tests if they didn’t need to. Low stock and surging prices for off-the-shelf rapid antigen tests (RATs) meant to replace PCR tests have exacerbated the situation. There are increasing calls for federal and state governments to make RATs available free on a large scale. Speaking on the Today Show on Monday, Morrison said free RATs were already available at testing hubs for those that need it. “We’re now in a stage of the pandemic where you can’t just make everything free,” he …