UK Covid testing alarm

covid_testing_alarm.py

import datetime
import time
import requests
import playsound #You might need to install pygobject if you get an error about missing "gi" module for this.

playsound.playsound("ding.mp3")  #You'll need a file here that is noisy
while True:
    try:
        r = requests.post(
            "https://ads-prd-gov-1-sp.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/testcentres/availabilityquery",
            headers={
                "authority": "ads-prd-gov-1-sp.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk",
                "accept": "application/json, text/plain, */*",
                "dnt": "1",
                "x-urlcode": "***GET THIS IN BROWSER DEV TOOLS FROM A REQUEST MADE BY THE WEBSITE***",
                "user-agent": "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/84.0.4147.135 Safari/537.36",
                "content-type": "application/json",
                "origin": "https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk",
                "sec-fetch-site": "same-site",
                "sec-fetch-mode": "cors",
                "sec-fetch-dest": "empty",
                "referer": "https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/",
                "accept-language": "en-GB,en-US;q=0.9,en;q=0.8",
            },
            json={
                "topLevelTestCentreId": "CVD19",
                "postcode": "***YOUR_POSTCODE***",
                "testCentreGroupIds": ["GR_RTS", "GR_STS", "GR_MTU", "GR_LTS"],
                "startDate": "** DATE IN THIS FORMAT : 2020-09-10T00:00:00**",
                "numberOfDays": 5,
                "appointmentTypeCode": "ATCOM05",
                "paging": {"currentPage": 1, "pageSize": 3},
            },
        ).json()
        print("Time:", datetime.datetime.now())
        if len(r["testCentres"]) == 0:
            print("Nothing!")
        for c in r["testCentres"]:
            print(
                c["testCentre"]["displayName"],
                c["geolocation"]["distance"],
                c["availability"]["availableSlots"],
            )
            if float(c["geolocation"]["distance"]) < 50:
                for i in range(20):
                    playsound.playsound("ding.mp3")

    except:
        playsound.playsound("ding.mp3")
    time.sleep(60)

# Example request and response from chrome dev tools:

# curl 'https://ads-prd-gov-1-sp.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/testcentres/availabilityquery' \
#   -H 'authority: ads-prd-gov-1-sp.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk' \
#   -H 'accept: application/json, text/plain, */*' \
#   -H 'dnt: 1' \
#   -H 'x-urlcode: YOUR_CODE_HERE' \
#   -H 'user-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/84.0.4147.135 Safari/537.36' \
#   -H 'content-type: application/json' \
#   -H 'origin: https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk' \
#   -H 'sec-fetch-site: same-site' \
#   -H 'sec-fetch-mode: cors' \
#   -H 'sec-fetch-dest: empty' \
#   -H 'referer: https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/' \
#   -H 'accept-language: en-GB,en-US;q=0.9,en;q=0.8' \
#   --data-binary '{"topLevelTestCentreId":"CVD19","postcode":"YOUR_POSTCODE","testCentreGroupIds":["GR_RTS","GR_STS","GR_MTU"],"startDate":"2020-09-10T00:00:00","numberOfDays":5,"appointmentTypeCode":"ATCOM05","paging":{"currentPage":1,"pageSize":3}}' \
#   --compressed

#    {
#     "testCentres": [
#         {
#             "availability": {
#                 "availableSlots": 3,
#                 "slotsAvailableOn": ["2020-09-11T00:00:00"],
#             },
#             "geolocation": {"distance": 113.036529084286},
#             "testCentre": {
#                 "testCentreId": "LRC",
#                 "displayName": "Central Chester - Walk through site",
#                 "address": {
#                     "addressLine1": "Little Roodee Car Park",
#                     "town": "Chester",
#                     "postcode": "CH1 1SL",
#                 },
#                 "active": true,
#                 "testCentreGroupId": "GR_LTS",
#             },
#         },
#         {
#             "availability": {
#                 "availableSlots": 7,
#                 "slotsAvailableOn": ["2020-09-11T00:00:00"],
#             },
#             "geolocation": {"distance": 130.744753751102},
#             "testCentre": {
#                 "testCentreId": "KNH",
#                 "displayName": "Kirklees Ravensthorpe - Walk through site",
#                 "address": {
#                     "addressLine1": "Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing Car Park, Queen Street",
#                     "town": "Ravensthorpe",
#                     "postcode": "WF13 3BT",
#                 },
#                 "active": true,
#                 "testCentreGroupId": "GR_LTS",
#             },
#         },
#         {
#             "availability": {
#                 "availableSlots": 1,
#                 "slotsAvailableOn": ["2020-09-11T00:00:00"],
#             },
#             "geolocation": {"distance": 134.594445459396},
#             "testCentre": {
#                 "testCentreId": "CAL",
#                 "displayName": "Halifax Calderdale - Walk through site",
#                 "address": {
#                     "addressLine1": "Overflow Car Park, ASDA Halifax Superstore, Thrum Hall Lane",
#                     "town": "Halifax",
#                     "postcode": "HX1 4PG",
#                 },
#                 "active": true,
#                 "testCentreGroupId": "GR_LTS",
#             },
#         },
#     ],
#     "flagInvalidGeoLocation": false,
#     "customerCode": "XXXXXXX",
# }

thanks for this

Thank you for this.

Just want to point one thing - don't be dumb like me, remember to change the startDate! Otherwise the script is not going to find anything!

Thanks for pointing this out - I've edited the script.

Anyone knows/can guess what the GR_LTS test group ID stand for?

It does not appear in the testCentreGroupIds requests made by the browser when I snoop around.

However, I saw theGR_LTS code appear in some of the responses, but the JavaScript refused to show them in the UI.

GR_LTS is walk-in centres rather than drive-through centres I think

I think @wywywywy is probably right. walk-in centers do not appear as a choice for young children.

When making the script I collected those IDs by combining the responses from the "drive in" option and the "walk in" option. With the result being that the script will fire for both. My understanding is this: ("GR_RTS", "GR_STS")=Both drive through, not sure of diff. "GR_MTU"=Mobile drive through unit, "GR_LTS"=Walk-in unit.

Thanks to the magic of this script, I managed to book a test for my daughter on Sunday. But it's Friday now and we still haven't received the results 🙄

And test just came back negative 😁😁

And test just came back negative

Yay! My daughters did too.

I keep thinking we should turn this script into a live website with current and historic availability.

Thanks for this. We finally managed to get through but the nearest centre is in mid wales.

My wife tells me that PCR tests should cost pennies as there are 384 well machines. They could do 170 tests per run (4 hours).
Factor in the £10/hour postdoc to run it...

Someone is making a lot of money by rationing the tests.