Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, March 11 (TMTPOST) — The National Health Commission of China said that the State Council has decided to allow residents to test for Covid-19 at their homes using test kits.

Residents can use Covid-19 antigen test kits at homes to screen themselves, which will be a supplementary Covid-19 screening mechanism to nucleic acid tests at medical institutions, the National Health Commission said.

Under the new policy, residents can purchase Covid-19 antigen test kits from pharmacies and e-commerce platforms and test themselves at home. Residents with Covid-19 symptoms, under quarantine or with close contact with Covid-19 patients can use the antigen test kits to screen themselves.

Residents with a positive test result are required report to their own community immediately regardless of whether there are symptoms or not. The community is required to immediately contact the emergency center to transfer patients to medical facilities for nucleic acid tests.

Residents with a negative test result are advised to continue to closely monitor their conditions and test again with an antigen test kit or nucleic acid test again when necessary. Residents with symptoms are recommended to seek medical attention at a medical facility with a fever clinic and take a nucleic acid test. Residents who are unable to get a nucleic acid test at a medical facility are advised to self-quarantine and test for Covid-19 every day for five consecutive days.

The National Health Commission said that nucleic acid tests will continue to serve as the diagnostic evidence of Covid-19 and that antigen tests are only a supplementary means to screen residents for Covid-19.

In comparison with a nucleic acid test, an antigen test can deliver testing results in a shorter time and is very convenient for users to perform. Antigen tests are generally used for mass testing of infectious diseases.

It is worth noting that self-test kits for Covid-19 are very popular in overseas regions where residents would generally test themselves for Covid-19 instead of going to a hospital.