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

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

Medical worker collects swabs from construction workers for nucleic acid
Medical worker collects swabs from construction workers for nucleic acid tests in Beijing

BEIJING (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.

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.

(This story has been refiled to correct date in the lede)

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