Photo: VCG

China's State Council on Friday issued a notice on Friday, asking local governments to do a good job in the logistics guarantee of anti-epidemic items including self-test kits against the backdrop of the surging demand for the corresponding products as China optimizes its epidemic prevention and control measures.

While calling on to strengthen information sharing on production and supplies and making sure that the corresponding items can be delivered efficiently and smoothly, the government and domestic producers are beefing up in response to the soaring demand for self-test kits in many parts of the country.

Several pharmacies and online stores that the Global Times reached on Friday said that their antigen reagent kits are either sold out or running low, and they are scrambling to bolster supplies to meet booming market demand.

A staff member at a pharmacy in Beijing's Chaoyang district told the Global Times that their self-test kits sold out as soon as they were put on shelves. "Like cold drugs, the test kits see surging demand but supply has been tightened," she said.

Test kits at some online stores on e-commerce platforms such as Mei-tuan and JD.com have also run short or seen prices go up to some ex-tent, the Global Times learned on Friday. At some local pharmacies, the price has doubled, but the products are still unavailable.

Current average daily sales of self-test kits have increased by more than 400 times compared with November, Lilac Insights Doctor App data shows, according to media reports.

Data from JD Health also suggested that the turnover of antigen detec-tion kits from November 28 to December 4 increased by 344 percent from the previous week.

In response to the explosive demand, domestic test kit suppliers have ex-panded production.

Wantai BioPharm, a domestic maker of self-test kits, told Yicai.com on Thursday that at present, there is great demand for COVID-19 antigen reagents in the market, and the company is stepping up production to meet demand.

On Thursday, China launched a scheme to provide guidance on how to properly administer a COVID-19 antigen self-test. The scheme is intend-ed for individuals who want to take the test, those who work in crowded environments and the elderly.

Experts said that the tightened supplies would be temporary, since China is a major exporter of testing reagents and its production capacity for antigen testing is very large. China also played the main role in global epidemic prevention and control at the beginning of the epidemic in 2020.

"Although this part of demand has decreased as many countries relaxed the prevention measures, China's production capacity still exists - most producers have export qualifications, but do not have the qualifications for sale in the domestic market," a senior industry insider told the Global Times on Friday on condition of anonymity.

To date, the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved 39 antigen detection reagents for COVID-19.

SFDA told the media on Friday that the drug regulatory department will continue to speed up the review and approval of related products, strengthen post-market supervision, and ensure product quality and safety.