China said Friday it would introduce the use of rapid antigen tests for the first time, as Covid-19 cases nationwide soared to their highest levels in two years on the back of the omicron variant.
The National Health Commission said the self-test kits would now be available for clinics and ordinary citizens to buy via “retail pharmacies, online sales platforms and other channels”, as authorities locked down a northern city of nine million and closed schools in Shanghai to bring infections down.