China says producing 60 million antigen test kits per day, but then why aren't people getting them?

Beijing: China is battling another stringent wave of Covid dominated by Omicron’s sub-variant BF.7. The dwindling health situation in the Asian nation is leaving its citizens anxious as Beijing is facing an acute shortage of antigen test kits.

With more and more number of people falling ill due to the widely spreading virus, people are rushing to pharmacies to get antigen kits but returning empty handed as several stores has put up notices reading “antigen test kits sold-out”.

Antigen test kits shortage in China

Major Chinese e-commerce platforms selling antigen test kits are also displaying the products being out of stock.

After China suddenly eased stringent restrictions under its zero-Covid policy, many cities in the country have witnessed surge in demand for key medical supplies including fever-reducing medicines, N95 masks and antigen test kits.

For the unversed, antigen kits enable people to test themselves for Covid-19. They do not have to travel to laboratories or book home appointments for test.

The demand for antigen test kits soared further after China closed nucleic acid test sites.

A report by SCMP quoted China’s leading medical products manufacturer - Winner Medical - saying that its recent revenue for antigen testing kits had exceeded the total of the first few months of 2022.

People in China have also complained that antigen test kits have been unavailable ever since Xi Jinping’s government relaxed zero-Covid policy restrictions.

Meanwhile, antigen kits manufacturers are attributing the shortage to the gap between sudden surge in demand and the time needed to boost production.

How many antigen test kits is China producing?

It is alarming that people continue to face shortages despite the country producing 60 million units of antigen test kits daily.

A report by state news agency Xinhua quoted Huang Guo, deputy director of the National Medical Products Administration, saying at a press conference on Tuesday that China’s daily output of antigen test kits has hit around 60 million units as the country braces output of anti-Covid medical supplies.

Must Read: Omicron subvariant BF.7 behind China Covid spike already existed in India. Do we need to be scared?

Huang also stated that the production capacity of ibuprofen and paracetamol is also increasing with sufficient active pharmaceutical ingredients to meet domestic demand.

Where have all made in China antigen test kits gone?

Under the zero-Covid policy, nucleic acid tests were the most acceptable method. During the time, antigen test kits made by China were largely exported. However, after the sudden easing up of restrictions, manufacturers are being unable to cope up with a mounting domestic demand.

A report by Nikkei Asia quoted an antigen testing kits manufacturer saying that producers have moved to round-the-clock operations.

“It takes about two weeks to expand capacity, and the first batches of products have left the factory. But we don’t know where the products go, and people said they still couldn’t find them anywhere,” the person added.

“The temporary shortage of antigen test kits in some places is mainly due to earlier low market demand and low stock, and with increased production capacity, output can be rapidly increased to meet the need,” the report quoted Zhou Jian, an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China, as saying.

Notably, there are about 42 antigen test kit manufacturers in China.

What is government doing?

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that the government authorities should assist manufacturers in expanding capacity and enhancing production to meet the surging demand for medical products.

He also flagged the importance of stepping up global cooperation and urgently importing essential goods.

Meanwhile, local governments in China have started to address the difficulty in purchasing antigen kits by standardising collection and distribution through the government.

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