Ms. Cai from Jiangxi signed her name on the company’s “stay in Hangzhou” list. This Spring Festival is in Hangzhou.
In July 2021, she followed hundreds of villagers to the production plant of Aikang biology in Hangzhou and became an ordinary member of the nucleic acid detection medical product production line. It was originally planned to end the “temporary” work and go home for the new year before the Spring Festival in 2022. Unexpectedly, near the end of the year, the order volume in the factory increased greatly, giving employees favorable conditions for “staying in Hangzhou” for the new year.
“Plus the subsidy, 31 yuan / hour, there will be a new year red envelope. Work 12 hours a day, at least 300 hours a month, and the monthly salary can exceed 10000.” After calculating, Ms. Cai, who is in her 40s, said, “I have not had such a high salary for working for so many years. I want to seize this opportunity.”
On January 6, the flowflex covid-19 virus antigen self detection reagent developed by Aikang Biotechnology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Aikang biotechnology”) was approved by the Australian food and Drug Administration TGA and entered the Australian medical supplies registration list (ARTG). According to the official website of Aikang biology, at present, flowflex covid-19 virus antigen detection reagent has been authorized by many authorities such as FDA, EUA, EU CE and Australia TGA.
At the beginning of the new year, the epidemic situation in many parts of the world is high, the number of overseas confirmed cases is rising, and the epidemic situation is becoming more and more serious. Recently, the overseas demand for covid-19 virus detection kit has been “difficult to find one kit”. It is reported that the price of the two dose quick screening kit commonly used in the United States is $14 ~ 24. Now, due to the shortage of supply, the price has doubled several times in some markets.
At the same time, there are many local cases in Shaanxi, Henan and Tianjin. Among them, Omicron’s raid on Tianjin has spread for at least three generations. Anyang, Henan is also the same transmission chain, which exacerbates the tense situation. Rapid large-scale nucleic acid detection of covid-19 virus is still an essential part in epidemic prevention everywhere.
Repeated global epidemics have busy Chinese workers.
foreign test kit “hard to find”
According to the real-time statistics of global covid-19 pneumonia data released by Johns Hopkins University, as of 6 p.m. Eastern time on January 9, 60062077 cases of covid-19 pneumonia and 837504 deaths were reported in the United States. As of the past week on the 9th, the average number of newly confirmed cases in the United States has exceeded 700000. Eight Americans test positive for covid-19 every second. In the past five days, the number of newly confirmed cases in the United States has reached a new high in a single day.
In fact, by the end of 2021, Omicron had landed all over the United States, and the detection scale in the United States had increased fourfold.
Unlike China, when the epidemic comes, all residents can quickly go to the nearest testing point for nucleic acid testing. In foreign countries, due to the wide coverage and long appointment time, it has become the choice of many Americans to buy a rapid detection kit that can be used at home. Linlin, who works in the United States, told first finance that due to the rapid spread of the epidemic and the long time to make an appointment for nucleic acid testing, many American families will buy covid-19 virus testing agent to test themselves at home in order to timely detect the health of family members. If the elderly or children at home are inconvenient to go out, they will also use this method to measure themselves.
The epidemic situation in Britain is also not optimistic. The average daily confirmed cases in Britain in the past week (January 4-9) are about 180000, and there is a serious shortage of covid-19 detection agents. At present, in the UK, only one local covid-19 virus detection kit manufacturer has passed the government’s “covid-19 detection device approval”.
In Australia, on January 8, Australia added more than 100000 confirmed cases of covid-19 pneumonia in a single day, setting a new record for many consecutive days. The Australian medical system is under pressure and the testing center is overwhelmed.
It is understood that the Biden government signed an agreement with Wal Mart, Kroger and Amazon last summer to sell the binaxnow test kit developed by Abbott at a low price of US $14 (about 89.3 yuan). The kit usually contains two doses of quick screen, which is the most widely used covid-19 virus detection kit in the United States.
The low price sale agreement expired in December 2021. Wal Mart previously said it would raise the price to $19.98 and Kroger’s price to $23.99. But Amazon is temporarily out of stock, and the rapid detection kit is “hard to find”.
foreign production capacity is insufficient and relies heavily on imports from China
In 2020, the British government invested millions of pounds to launch a “moon landing operation”, determined to become the world’s leading producer of covid-19 testing agent. With the strong support of the government, British manufacturers have invested in research. However, nearly two years later, only one manufacturer named “surescreen” has passed the government’s “covid-19 testing device approval”. British Omega testing company was also fined for signing a huge contract worth 374 million pounds with the government, but failed to pass the government’s approval.
At present, the covid-19 test kit in the UK mainly relies on Zhejiang Orient Financial Holdings Group Co.Ltd(600120) gene biological products Co., Ltd. and Aikang biology. The test tool providers in Australia are also mainly from enterprises in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places in China.
The covid-19 test agent in the United States mainly comes from the binaxnow test kit developed by Abbott, a domestic manufacturer, and Aikang biological and Andon Health Co.Ltd(002432) (002432. SZ) in China. The price of ihealth test agent produced by Andon Health Co.Ltd(002432) on Amazon, an American e-commerce platform, is only $6.99, but it has long been fully sold out.
Since the emergence of Omicron mutant in November last year, the global demand for Chinese covid-19 detection agent began to increase greatly.
According to China’s customs data, from the perspective of export market, China’s covid-19 antigen reagent was mainly sold to Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Greece in November 2021. Among them, Germany imported 1.308 billion yuan in November, an increase of 179.24% month on month, surpassing Britain and becoming the largest importer of covid-19 testing reagents in China. The import volume of Britain and the United States ranked second and third, reaching 715 million yuan and 346 million yuan respectively, with a month on month increase of 27.58% and 179.24% respectively.
At the end of 2021, the chief health officer of Australia suggested that the use of rapid antigen detection should be increased, including the monitoring of transmission in essential workers and high-risk environments. Rapid antigen detection may become a key measure to curb the large-scale outbreak of the epidemic and reduce the pressure of nucleic acid detection.
Andon Health Co.Ltd(002432) Wu Tong, Secretary of the board of directors, revealed at the research meeting on December 29, 2021 that the company’s current monthly production capacity is 100 million people, and it is planned to increase the production capacity to 200 million people per month by the beginning of 2022.
As of December 27, us time, Andon Health Co.Ltd(002432) has received government orders from Massachusetts, California, New York, Washington, D.C., Washington, Louisiana, Maryland and Oregon, totaling 47.43 million people. At present, 8.82 million people have been shipped.
Anxin securities predicts that with the spread of Omicron mutant, the further promotion of home self inspection products in the United States and the upcoming spring semester in January, it will continue to stimulate the demand for covid-19 detection. Based on the judgment of the future industry trend, it is expected that the total covid-19 testing market in Europe and the United States is expected to reach US $3.391 billion in 2022.
China’s demand for covid-19 virus detection surges
As far as China is concerned, with local cases reported in Shaanxi, Henan and Tianjin, large-scale nucleic acid detection of covid-19 virus is also being carried out one by one.
In the early morning of December 22, 2021, Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Group Co.Ltd(603882) under the dispatch of the National Health Commission, urgently invested two groups of five cabin in one “Falcon” hard gas membrane laboratory in Xi\’an, set up in Xi\’an International Convention and Exhibition Center, which is responsible for undertaking the nucleic acid samples screened by the whole staff in Xi\’an. The hard gas membrane laboratory can detect up to 250000 tubes of nucleic acid samples per day. According to the 10 mixed 1 sampling method, it can detect up to 2.5 million people per day.
Henan and Tianjin have also started full nucleic acid testing to combat the epidemic. Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Group Co.Ltd(603882) told first finance that Tianjin, Zhengzhou and other places are deploying production capacity according to the needs of local governments.
As a manufacturer, Daan Gene Co.Ltd(002030) also said on the interactive platform that the company’s covid-19 nucleic acid detection kit is available to many provinces, cities and regions in China, including Xi’an.
“Up to now, 11744 medical and health institutions in China can carry out nucleic acid detection. Our overall nucleic acid detection capacity has reached 29.95 million copies per tube per day. If combined with the \’10 mixed 1\’ detection method, our detection capacity can be doubled.” Guo Yanhong, supervisor of the medical administration of the National Health Commission, said at the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council on December 11.
the advantage of made in China is highlighted, and the goods are rushed overtime in spring
“There is no change in the sensitivity and specificity of mainstream nucleic acid detection reagents in China, which can cope with the input of Omicron mutant.” Xu Wenbo, director of the Institute of virus prevention and control of China CDC, said at the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council held on November 30, 2021.
At present, Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.Ltd(300482) (300482. SZ), Shanghai Zj Bio-Tech Co.Ltd(688317) (688317. SH), Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech Co.Ltd(688298) (688298. SH), Autobio Diagnostics Co.Ltd(603658) (603658. SH) and other covid-19 detection biological companies have indicated that their listed products will not miss the detection and miss the target of Omicron mutant.
According to customs statistics, in November 2021, the export value of diagnostic reagents (mainly covid-19 antigen reagents) with HS code 30021500 in China reached 4.165 billion yuan, an increase of 80.62% month on month, the first month on month increase after six consecutive months of decline.
In terms of provinces, Zhejiang’s export volume increased greatly, which was the main reason for the increase in the overall export volume of covid-19 antigen reagent in November. In November, the export value of covid-19 antigen reagent in Zhejiang reached 2.424 billion yuan, an increase of 54.35% month on month. In that month, the export value of Zhejiang accounted for 58.21% of the total export value of covid-19 antigen reagent in China, ranking first in China.
The export volume of other major export provinces of covid-19 reagent also increased significantly. In November, the export of covid-19 antigen reagent in Beijing was 506 million yuan, an increase of 146.98% month on month; Fujian exported 491 million yuan of covid-19 antigen reagent in November, a month on month increase of 137.32%; Guangdong exported 290 million yuan of covid-19 antigen reagent in November, an increase of 94.80% month on month.
The growth of overseas orders makes the front-line general workers busy. Ms. Cai introduced to China first finance and economics that after entering the factory in the second half of last year, she basically worked for 12 hours every day. If she is lucky, she can rest one day a week. Sometimes she can only rest one day in half a month or a month in case of rush.
After entering November, the factory put forward preferential conditions for employees to “stay in Hangzhou” for the new year. As can be seen from the welfare notice of staying in Hangzhou displayed by Ms. Cai, the salary of employees who do not go home during the new year can be increased from the original 21 yuan / hour to 31 ~ 35 yuan / hour. At the same time, there is a reward of 6000 yuan, and the comprehensive income will reach 11000 yuan / month. The high wages were maintained for three months, December, January and February. Work 12 ~ 13 hours a day, 26 ~ 28 days a month.
“More than 100 people in our hometown basically stayed in the factory.” Ms. Cai said with a smile, “if it goes well, I\’ll go home for the new year on May Day next year.”
(Lin Lin and Ms. CAI are pseudonyms)
(source: First Finance)
