China urges coronavirus testing capacity ramp-up in preparation for potential outbreaks

A medical worker collects a swab sample from an elderly woman for nucleic acid test at Hongshan district in Wuhan, Hubei province, May 14, 2020. [Photo by Xue Zi/For China Daily]. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

BEIJING, Jul 2, 2020, Reuters. China’s local governments and medical institutes should ramp up and reserve coronavirus testing capacity in preparation for increased demand amid potential outbreaks, national health authorities said on Thursday (Jul 2), Reuters reported.

Local authorities should have emergency response plans to be able to swiftly expand nucleic test capacity, the National Health Commision said in a guideline on its website.

Nucleic acid test results should be delivered within six hours for patients at fever clinics and within a day for those who volunteer to be tested, according to the guideline.

Reporting by Roxanne Liu, Judy Hua and Ryan Woo in Beijin; editing by John Stonestreet

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