According to the regulation, staff of centralized quarantine sites, designated medical institutions, customs, border inspection, ports, aviation service, imported cold chain food sector and fever clinics shall be tested once a day.

Additionally, staff of many other service industries must be tested every three days. Those working at government institutions, students in schools and kindergartens and trainees of training institutions shall be tested every 7 days.

The regulation does not stipulate the frequency of testing for conference participants. But organizers of major conferences have required participants to test twice every three days at their own expense.

Although the test fees are meager, quite a few participants find it time-consuming and troublesome.

Endorsing the participants' view, Xie Min, a middle-aged taxi driver in the Chengdu Rongcheng Taxi Company, said: "Our company asks us to take a test twice a week. Sometimes it is difficult to find a place to park the taxi when I have a test."

But overall he thinks it is a reasonable change.

"Chengdu has a permanent population of 20 million. If 10 million take the test a day, the government will pay 35 million yuan. It is impossible for the government to pay the cost all the time," he said.