What’s new: Covid-19 lab testing companies in Beijing can no longer charge extra fees to rush nucleic acid tests test results, local regulators said when they announced new price controls on the business just as the Chinese capital is dealing with a fresh outbreak ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The city’s government set a maximum price of 35 yuan ($5.50) per test and pledged to punish offenders that charge extra fees with fines up to five times the amount of the added charge, local officials said at a Tuesday press conference held by the Beijing Municipal Information Office.
Local health officials said at the conference that labs should still return test results in six hours, and within12 hours.
Coyote Bioscience Co. Ltd., a private company that offers Covid tests in Beijing's airports and train stations, said late Tuesday on social media that it would no longer provide rush tests. Previously, the company had offered to get results back to customers within eight hours for an additional 100 yuan fee, or within four hours for an extra 200 yuan.
Background: From Saturday to Monday, Beijing reported four new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19, three of which were symptomatic, including one with the omicron variant.
On Monday, health officials advised people to buy fewer imported goods after the municipal government said there was a possibility that a Covid case found in Beijing over the weekend was caused by a package from Canada.
Contact reporter Manyun Zou (manyunzou@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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