Covid testing demand surges as cases spike across Asia
(Bloomberg) – Demand for Covid tests is increasing in Hong Kong as cases surge in recent weeks, according to the top executive of diagnostic kit-maker Phase Scientific International.
The Hong Kong-based company, which is a major provider of Covid testing kits in Asia Pacific, has seen business gain because of the Covid wave across Asia, Chief Executive Officer Ricky Chiu said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Health authorities in densely-populated Hong Kong and Singapore have warned that Covid-19 cases are spiking, while data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed the Covid wave in China is on track reach last year's summer peak. Shares of Covid test kit and drug makers in Asia have risen tracking a surge in infections.
'Covid is a seasonal thing,' said Chiu, adding that 'definitely there is a spike in the business.'
Phase Scientific has also seen growth in its non-Covid testing business due to the pandemic, which made more people aware of the importance of at-home testing for other diseases, Chiu said. The company has developed the world's first urine-based human papillomavirus test, and is planning to expand that business globally.
The company raised $34 million in Series A financing this week, the largest such round in Asia's diagnostic technology sector since 2019.
(Updates with more details.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
India plans rare earth magnet incentives as supply threat mounts, sources say
By Aditi Shah, Neha Arora and Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India is holding talks with companies to establish long-term stockpiles of rare earth magnets by offering fiscal incentives for domestic production, people familiar with the matter said. Building such a supply chain could take years, but would reduce India's dependence on shipments from China, which sent shockwaves across global industries, particularly autos, with its April 4 move to curb exports of rare earth materials. China controls 90% of the processing of such magnets, also used in industries such as clean energy and defence. Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to develop domestic manufacturing capabilities and is considering offering production-based fiscal incentives to companies, said two sources who sought anonymity as the talks are private. The scheme, being drafted by the ministry of heavy industries, also envisions partly funding the difference between the final price of the made-in-India magnet and the cost of the Chinese imports, the first source said. This would help achieve cost parity and boost local demand, the source said, adding that funding for the scheme has yet to be decided, with the government likely to meet industry officials next week to finalise the details. The heavy industries ministry did not respond to Reuters' queries. Although a state-run firm, IREL, has been mining rare earth materials for years, these are mainly used by the atomic energy and defence units, with most supplies for other uses still imported from China. India's move comes as auto companies the world over flag risks that they could face supply disruptions within days. In Japan, Suzuki Motor, has suspended production of its Swift car because of China's curbs. In India, auto industry body SIAM has privately told the government it expects production "to come to a grinding halt" within a timeframe starting from the end of May or early June. The heavy industries ministry also plans to send a delegation of auto industry executives to meet officials in Beijing to push for faster approvals, with two industry officials warning that was the only near-term solution. "The short-term solution has to be to get Chinese authorities to clear things," said one of the executives, who fears shortages at his company. "A radical shift in supply chain is not possible in the short term." Some auto companies and their suppliers will be able to stretch operations until the end of June, after which the situation will turn "really scary", said the second executive, adding it would affect not just electric cars but all vehicles. India has the world's third-largest reserves of rare earths of 6.9 million tons, the U.S. Geological Survey says, but only mines a fraction because private companies make limited investments. A government campaign launched in April, the National Critical Mineral Mission, aims to attain self-reliance in the sector. In recent years, it has begun exploration for neodymium, a rare earth widely used in magnets for the auto industry. India also exports neodymium to Japan for lack of domestic processing capability, two of the sources said. Commercially available export data showed India exported nearly $7 million worth of the rare earth material to Toyota Tsusho between January and April. This week, Modi's office discussed the impact of the magnet crisis on the small but fast-growing EV sector, to which investors have committed billions of dollars, a person familiar with the talks said. It also weighed the possibility of tariff exemptions for imports of machines required by domestic manufacturers, the source said, adding, "The government is looking into it critically. They are serious." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Global Funds Bet on Korean Stocks' Big Break on Reform Tailwinds
After years of frustration with South Korea's underperforming stock market, investors are growing more optimistic that the new president's push for shareholder-friendly policies will finally deliver stronger returns. Global money managers, including Aberdeen Investments, Pictet Wealth Management, and Franklin Templeton, have recently added positions or upgraded their outlook on local stocks. They are encouraged by newly-elected Lee Jae-myung's vows to boost corporate governance and nearly double the market's return, after months of political chaos in the nation triggered by his predecessor's short-lived martial law imposition.
CNN
6 hours ago
- CNN
Why men with broken heart syndrome are more likely to die, according to experts
Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. Source: CNN A 59-year-old man arrived at the Peking University First Hospital in Beijing for a procedure when he started having severe chest pain and shortness of breath. Four months earlier, he had cancerous tumors removed from his bladder. Around his family, he tried his best to appear strong and avoided discussions of his health. Privately, his severe anxiety over the possibility of a cancer recurrence kept him awake at night. Doctors said the man was experiencing takotsubo cardiomyopathy — also known as broken heart syndrome, as documented in a 2021 case study. The rare stress-induced heart condition has been observed primarily in women, but a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in May found that the illness may be more deadly for the men who get it. Thought to be caused by extreme emotional or physical events — such as learning about the death of a loved one, winning the lottery or lifting a heavy sofa — takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or TC, occurs when the heart muscle is flooded with stress hormones, causing part of it to 'freeze' in place. As the heart struggles to properly pump blood, symptoms resemble those of a heart attack, including chest pain, heart palpitations and irregular heartbeat. The new study analyzed data from nearly 200,000 patients hospitalized for TC in the United States between 2016 and 2020. While women accounted for 83% of the cases, men were more than twice as likely to die from the condition — with a mortality rate of 11.2%. 'The differences between men and women are a very striking finding,' said study coauthor Dr. Mohammad Reza Movahed, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 'It raises a new, interesting question that should really be studied.' Similar to differences between men's and women's cardiovascular health more generally, the discrepancies in TC death rates are not well understood, Movahed said, especially because they counter trends in other heart diseases. It's widely theorized, however, that differences in hormone levels play a role. Stressful situations trigger the adrenal glands to release our fight-or-flight hormones, called catecholamines. They are meant to increase our blood pressure and raise our heart rate, but extreme levels can temporarily 'stun' cells in the heart's tissue, leading to TC, Movahed explained. Men are thought to produce more catecholamines during stressful situations compared with women, possibly leading men to present with more severe cases of TC, he suggested. Estrogen, a sex hormone produced at higher levels in women, may also have a protective effect on the cardiovascular system, making it easier to manage an extreme influx of catecholamines and reducing the risk of severe complications from TC, said Dr. Louis Vincent, a noninvasive-cardiology research fellow at the University of Miami, who coauthored a similar, multiyear study investigating discrepancies in men and women who had TC. Vincent was not involved in the new study. Beyond biological differences, social factors may play a role as well. 'Most (physicians) know about takotsubo, but they may think of it as a disease just affecting women, so the diagnosis might be overlooked in men,' said Dr. Deepak Bhatt, a cardiologist and the director of Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital who was not involved in the study. 'With misdiagnosis, care is delayed, and that can sometimes lead to worse outcomes.' Men may also seek care at a later stage of illness, believing that their symptoms are manageable or may pass, said Dr. Alejandro Lemor, an assistant professor of interventional cardiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center who was also not involved in the study. Deadly complications from TC include blood clots, stroke, cardiac arrest and heart failure, Lemor said. If the condition is caught early, medications can reduce the risk of having these complications, restore proper heart function and allow for full recovery within weeks, he added. Movahed's team was able to factor for important variables like age, race, income, chronic lung disease, hypertension and diabetes in the findings. However, there was no patient data on other comorbid diseases, such as a history of stroke or the presence of a Covid-19 infection, Vincent said. Additionally, the new study included in-patient diagnostic data only for those hospitalized with TC, so those who received outpatient care or died later from complications outside the hospital were likely not counted in the analysis, Movahed noted. To establish a firmer explanation for the differences in mortality rates between men and women and further test treatment methods, a more detailed dataset would be needed, Vincent said. 'People should be aware in studies like this, we're presenting findings that are based on diagnostic codes, and we're not looking at patient procedures or lab results,' Vincent said. 'But it's powerful in the sense that it lets us look at large populations and look at trends. And I think that this trend of a higher mortality in men is worth taking a deeper look into.' Sudden, severe chest pain or shortness of breath should always be treated as a medical emergency, warned Bhatt, who is also a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. 'It's not a time to tough it out at home or get on the internet to figure it out. … Don't try to track down your primary care provider. Call emergency services,' Bhatt said. 'Time matters. By winning those few hours, you could save yourself irreparable damage to your heart.' Symptoms following physical stressors — a common cause of TC in men — should not be ignored, Movahed said, especially preceding medical events such as asthma attacks, seizures or complications from drug use. And while TC is caused by sudden stress, Bhatt said that managing chronic stress with daily meditation or exercise can lead to better cardiovascular health overall while giving you routines to fall back on in unexpected situations. See Full Web Article
