Guangzhou has become one of the first cities in China to trial ‘normalized’ COVID-19 testing, by setting up nucleic acid testing booths in three of the city’s districts.
On May 23, at a press conference held by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, National Health Commission spokeperson Mi Feng said that COVID-19 testing booths will be within a 15-minute walk from residents’ homes and that testing would take no longer than 20 minutes.
Normalized testing seeks to prevent large-scale lockdowns by regularly testing residents to ensure that the COVID-19 virus doesn’t spread throughout cities undetected.
Although no information has yet been released, it is presumed that once normalized testing is rolled out, citizens will require a negative nucleic acid test taken within 48- or 72-hours to access public transport and other places around the city.
So far, 69 testing sites have been established in Huadu district, six in Huangpu district and 132 in Zengcheng district.
Five testing stations began operations in Huadu at 3pm yesterday (Tuesday, May 24).
Testing sites are fixed locations supplemented by smaller, mobile booths where testing takes place.
Test site locations are based on the population of the local area, geographical locations, traffic and accessibility.
[Cover image via Weibo@克总评车]
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