People in China who want to be tested for Covid-19 can now book one with the tap of a button. The country’s biggest ecommerce platforms now sell Covid-19 tests, and people can get results online within 24 hours.
Ecommerce giant JD.com introduced an option to book a coronavirus nucleic acid test in a laboratory through its platform on Monday. Alibaba Health rolled out a similar service on its online shopping platform Tmall. On both platforms, users can search for the keyword, pay 258 yuan (US$36) and book their appointment at a participating laboratory.
(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.)
Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is not the most foolproof way to detect the presence of the coronavirus, as it’s possible to get false negatives. But they are a lot easier to administer than chest scans, another way to diagnose the disease. China has been stepping up testing to avoid the resurgence of Covid-19 as the country seeks to slowly return things back to normal. For now, JD is only serving users in Beijing. Alibaba Health is offering testing in 10 major cities as of Tuesday, with more to come.