Customs officers carry out routine inspections on the testing kits that are bound for overseas clients in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, March 25, 2020. (Photo provided to Xinhua)

China's COVID-19 testing capacity can fully meet domestic demand and with high accuracy rate, authorities said on Wednesday, and more fasting testing products are expected before autumn. 

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China's daily COVID-19 nucleic acid testing capacity hit 4.84 million at the end of July, with 4,946 institutions and more than 38,000 technical staff now capable of carrying out tests. Nearly 200 million testing kits and 12,000 testing machines have been distributed nationwide. 

The country's testing capacity has successfully met the demand of 10 million people in Wuhan, Central China's Hunan Province, and 10 million in Beijing. Authorities are working to further enhance testing capacity by training more relevant medical personnel, increasing the production of testing kits and simplifying the marketization process for new products, according to the MIIT official. 

MIIT plans to install nucleic acid detection facilities in all national tertiary general hospitals, infectious disease hospitals, disease control institutions at all levels, and county-level hospitals by autumn, said the official. 

China's National Products Administration said on Wednesday that in an effort to accelerate testing kit innovation and production, it has thus far approved 44 COVID-19 testing kits from 36 enterprises, including seven rapid nucleic acid testing kits. 

The current fastest COVID-19 testing kit in China provides results in 30 minutes, authorities said, and the overall accuracy rate of nucleic acid testing in the country has reached 95 percent. Rapid testing kits are among China's top development priorities, with further kits expected to receive approval by autumn. 

The rapid testing kits have drastically reduced the time it takes to detect infection. At the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, results were available a minimum of four hours after testing. 

China's testing capacity stands out as one of the most advanced in the world, said Bao Xinahua, an official from China's Ministry of Science and Technology. The country's technology is level with the US and Europe, and the quality and speed of some Chinese products are the best in the world.  

At the same time, MIIT will strengthen cooperation among various authorities and forces so that they can be quickly dispatched at an early stage of any future outbreak.

Global Times