BEIJING -- China's daily testing capacity for COVID-19 has surpassed 15 million samples, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Jan 27.

"Our testing capacity is even stronger when we conduct pool testing, for example, five or 10 samples in one batch," said Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the NHC, at a press conference.

China is facing rising demand for virus testing as more people are traveling home for the Spring Festival, said Zeng, urging local authorities to improve their testing capacity and explore ways to lower the testing cost and increase the convenience for people being tested.