We’re back at it again. Nucleic acid testing for the entirety of Nanjing’s Jiangning District. And it may not stop there, but light on the horizon comes in the form of a new self-testing kit that is the creation of a Nanjing company.
Just before 19:00 yesterday evening, residents of Jiangning started getting the word that testing was to begin, more or less immediately, and be completed by the end of today, 14 March.
For those who missed the events of last July in the very same part of Nanjing, that gives the local medical profession just 30 hours to test 1.2 million people. And of course, we know they’ll do it.
The same experience also tells us today won’t be the last NAT we’ll be seeing. Last summer, tests were conducted every 3 days for 2 weeks.
This correspondent completed his testing at around 11:00 today, and judging by the collection of portable cabins assembled for the task, the arrangement looks worryingly permanent.
Readers in the rest of Nanjing may also soon be following in Jiangning’s footsteps, just as they did last summer. For another COVID positive case has been found this morning, in Qinhuai District this time, with the infected person living at 317 Zhongshan Nan Lu, reported PSA Nanjing (南京发布).
But if all goes to plan, the long lines of people waiting well into the night for their NAT may soon be a thing of the past. This past Friday, 11 March, a Nanjing company joined four others, from Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, in being granted approval for the launch of COVID antigen self-testing kits, reported The Economic Times of India.
Nanjing Vazyme Biotech (南京诺唯赞) reveals on their website the kit consists of a nasal swab and an elution tube which can provide a result in 10 minutes. The test is also safe for children, although an adult should administer the swab on those aged 2 to 15 years old.
As if to highlight the significance of the development, Nanjing Municipal Party Secretary, Han Liming, visited a facility which is at present creating a WeChat mini program to work hand in hand with the kit. The mini program shall presumably be employed to report the self-test results to health authorities.
No information has as yet been released as to exactly when the self-testing kit and the accompanying mini program shall be available. But for the thousands of medical professionals once again hard at work across Jiangning today, the sooner, the better.
