Shanghai is stepping up efforts to include the cost of novel coronavirus tests in the public health care system, authorities said yesterday.

Xia Kejia, director of the Shanghai Healthcare Security Administration, said the city is discussing issues such as what kind of tests and who could be included in the system now and enforce the national administration’s decision to put the tests into the public health care system as soon as possible.

The national administration released a notice on June 19 asking local administrations to put COVID-19 nucleic acid tests, antibody tests and related materials into local health care systems.

Xia also said 11 medical institutions in Shanghai, including Zhongshan, Huashan, Ruijin and Renji hospitals, have joined the online medical service system since the city launched it to provide convenient checks for patients of common ailments and chronic diseases and enable them to pay for services with the public health care insurance online.

Xia said more than 15,700 online medical services have been offered to date, with 2.27 million yuan (US$320,885) paid by the insurance.

He said Shanghai is also negotiating with the governments of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces to have one or two hospitals from each join the system to enable citizens in the Yangtze River Delta to enjoy convenient online medical services.

Authorities in the region joined up more than a year ago to enable patients to seek offline outpatient medical services in hospitals in the region and paid the fees with their insurance accounts directly.

By end-May, the intercity settlement system had been used about 1.16 million times and paid out 274 million yuan.