Residents queue at a Covid-19 testing booth in Beijing, China, on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. The capital city has required regular virus tests for greater than half a 12 months.
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BEIJING — Local frustration with Covid controls in China has increasingly targeted virus testing requirements and the massive business they’ve fueled.
Trending on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, on Tuesday morning was the hashtag: “If virus testing chaos never stops, the pandemic may never end,” in response to CNBC’s translation of the Chinese.
The hashtag was referring to the headline of a now-deleted opinion piece from a publication overseen by People’s Day by day, the Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper. The article listed several instances of allegedly forged virus test results this 12 months across the country, including in Shanghai and Beijing.
The article warned that false reporting of nucleic acid test results could find yourself spreading the virus further, result in much more rounds of testing — and lockdowns for months on end.
That very same media outlet on Monday published an article, still online, about greater than 30 virus testing corporations in China all controlled by the identical shareholder — which has been repeatedly fined.
Last week, Lanzhou city health authorities blamed considered one of those corporations for reporting some positive virus test results as negative.
It is not clear to what extent there could also be fraud, or whether the sheer volume of tests made it difficult to process them accurately.
Within the U.S., a surge of pop-up virus testing stations raised concerns of fraud in addition to identity theft.
On Tuesday, a Chinese official said at a press conference the cities of Beijing, Hefei and Shijiazhuang, amongst others, found problems with some virus testing firms and punished them. Criminal investigations into some institutions and individuals have also been made, the official added.
During the last month, several large cities across mainland China reported a surge in infections, prompting renewed lockdowns. Students and groups of individuals held public demonstrations over the weekend to protest the Covid controls, a policy which has endured for nearly three years.
Restrictions grew tighter this 12 months as authorities sought to trace and contain the more contagious Omicron variant. The capital city of Beijing, Shanghai and plenty of parts of the country have mandated regular virus testing for months — to travel or enter public venues corresponding to a supermarket.
Beijing city authorities said Wednesday that individuals staying mostly at home won’t have to test repeatedly, following the same announcement in parts of Guangzhou city earlier within the week.
Virus testing: a giant business
CNBC chosen 15 publicly listed Chinese Covid testing corporations and located that they reported a complete revenue of 86.58 billion yuan ($12.2 billion) in the primary three quarters of the 12 months, in response to data from Wind Information.
Not all their revenue necessarily comes from testing. But their business saw big gains this 12 months through the tip of September.
Seven of the businesses reported revenue nearly doubled or more during that point from a 12 months ago — one even saw revenue nearly quadruple, the information showed. Three of those corporations had listed on the mainland market because the pandemic began in early 2020.
Last week, the Shanghai Stock Exchange cancelled its review of a virus testing company’s proposed IPO.
In the primary half of the 12 months, 237 virus testing-related businesses registered in China — up by 51.9% from a 12 months ago, in response to Qichacha, a Chinese business database.
Testing only a 15-minute walk away
Until earlier this 12 months, virus testing was primarily conducted by hospitals and negative results weren’t needed to enter public venues in certain cities.
Analysts had said regular testing could help authorities curb infections more quickly.
At the very least in Beijing, the stations continuously display the logos of corporations handling the testing, with no upfront fee for people getting tested.
In May, the central government promoted the concept in large cities, a Covid testing station must be inside quarter-hour’ walking distance. Beijing city reiterated those plans on Wednesday.
As China navigates a path toward reopening, state media have put more emphasis on local adherence to the newest version of the health authority’s Covid policy and subsequent measures released in November. Neither stipulates whether or how virus testing stations must be deployed.