Your would think by now they would have a rapid test.

@ livinginchina @ bubbliyan
They have rapid tests if you go to a place that has them and pay for it.

I got results twice of a free, combined, test within 5 hours.

You have to understand that these free test are not directly for the benefit of you as a private individual but for the health authorities to keep a picture of what is going on in the community at large. Also they are a free service to you if you have the results within the period that you need it.

I really hate the way the word "free" is used in the context of health care.

Ultimately, somebody is paying for it, and that means somebody is receiving a payment.

That may be what's driving the 24 hour testing requirement.

More tests - more profit.
Other cities, now including Chengdu have a 48 hour requirement, and that's the number that was given by the federal government.

While it is true covid testing industry (~$2b) is profiting, it would be a mistake to assume the Politburo would condone the sacrificing of trillions in economic GDP fallout; the consumption/production spillover across industries from retail, services, textiles, energy, commodities, tech, real estate, tourism, airlines, trade, etc... just to benefit a handful of covid testing industry CEOs/insiders.

@bubb

If you get tested in the morning, you'd get results in the afternoon. If you get tested in the afternoon, results would appear at night. Testing at night, results would appear next morning.

This is why there are queues at 8am in the morning.

@fabey...not sure it is that simple. I have had six tests (mostly) in the afternoon (approx 4-6pm) and the results have taken between 5 and 16 hours to come through....
FYI This morning tried the bus to Walmart (Linyuqiao) - bus driver not interested in my covid test (or even health code!), nor at the entrance to the shopping centre or Walmart (just the health code), only on the subway coming back needed both covid test results and arrow.

My son's kindergarten is going to resume in Monday, and they asked for 48h test results from everyone in the household by Monday morning.

Possibly related to this, today I heard a central free testing facility in our neighborhood had run out of swabs by 4pm, and had to stop taking tests for the day because of that.

@AlPage48: "hate the way the word "free" is used in the context of health care"

Even if it's all provided by the state's tax revenues, someone does pay indeed.

But compared to many other countries, in China the state and local governments get revenue from many other sources than direct taxation of individuals.

Lot of people (in particular in cities like Kunming and lower) do not earn enough to ever pay income tax, even if full-time employed. What you earn you keep, and what you spend is your choice.

It makes it appear less like you are paying for someone else's health care when you finance the system by buying an apartment, cigarettes, train ticket, or whatever.

@bubblyian

Some testing sites post their standard time windows on a placard -- e.g., being swabbed by noon gets you test results by 19:00, by 17:00 gets you midnight and so forth.

Actual delivery is typically faster than the posted times by a few hours in my experience.

Another detail about the tests is that the time from taking the sample to having it actually tested takes time.

In my last case (checking the details in the phone app) that seems to have taken 18h - and I assume the 24/48h/whatever period they check from that, which is already 18h late.

Obviously this does not help if you need to be somewhere in next 24 hours and haven't been tested yet, but if you can get tested in advance, the 24h window does not start from taking the test, but possibly much later.

Cold medicine and antibiotics are reinstated for sale at pharmacies today.