The district of Chongchuan – the main urban area of Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province – has carried out several rounds of mass nucleic acid testing for COVID-19 in recent days and it came up with a novel approach to make the process easier and more efficient.

To provide more convenient services for its local folks, the sub-districts and communities in Chongchuan put their heads together and devised the idea of using borrowed vehicles – like vans, sightseeing buggies and buses – to help carry out nucleic acid sampling.

Wuxing village in Tianshenggang sub-district is one of the few traditional villages in Nantong. Covering 2.98 square kilometers, it is home to around 800 households. Many of the villagers are the elderly, and their residences are scattered about and are far from the sampling station.

To provide them with easy access to testing, Chu Junfang, general Party branch secretary of Wuxing village, borrowed an electro-tricycle from a local business and made it into a mobile nucleic acid sampling vehicle after it was disinfected.

As a result, folks living far from the sampling station and special groups, such as the elderly with disabilities and the children, are now able to have door-to-door sampling services.

Medical staff provide a more convenient mobile nucleic acid testing service for Wuxing's villagers. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

Starting April 9, the nucleic acid sampling sites set up in Chongchuan's urban area were moved to residential areas. A mobile testing service is now needed by the commercial areas and construction sites, outside the residential areas.

Gaodian community in Chongchuan had nine places needing mobile testing services. People need to walk for 50 kilometers to complete the sampling work of all these nine site. To improve efficiency, a sightseeing buggy was used to transport medical staff and supplies to the designated sites, after disinfection.

A sightseeing vehicle pressed into service now saves both time and labor, improving testing efficiency. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

Wenfeng sub-district has 18 buildings for both commercial and residential use, with a permanent residential population of over 2,200. It also has 10 construction sites with nearly 1,300 workers under close-loop management and nearly 1,000 watchmen at supermarkets, hotels and other facilities to guarantee people's normal lives.

To solve the sampling problem of these people, a mobile nucleic acid testing bus recently made its debut there. At present, it runs along two routes, with eight sites established along the way.

A mobile bus for nucleic acid sampling starts operating in the Wenfeng sub-district. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]