What To Do When Your Covid Result Won't Show Up?

It’s the third year of the pandemic, and by now we know one thing: if you want to get into any public places, you are required to show your negative covid test result within 48 hours to enter. But if you have already taken a nucleic acid test almost 24 hours ago and still haven't gotten any result back -- or if your results suddenly disappear, as our sister site Jingkids International reported this past week on WeChat -- here's what you should do.

1. Be patient

Some nucleic acid test results will be displayed within 24 hours after the test, but some results will not be available until another 24 hours after that. So, it's best to wait patiently and access the page later to obtain the latest covid test result.

2. Check with your test site

If you have taken your covid test at your community and still haven't gotten your test result for more than 24 hours, don't panic. My community told me because of the large number of people tested every day, it can be normal to not hear anything back from them for over 24 hours. They also mentioned that people should not overthink it if their test results take longer than usual, because only people who test positive will be notified immediately, so there is really no need to panic.

However, if you have taken a covid test at the hospital and you are in dire need to check your Covid results, you can try to call the hospital. Sometimes, the hospital might be able to access your test result before your jiankangbao upgrades it to the system.

Here's what you should tell them:

我的健康宝上还没有查询到核酸结果，你能帮我看看吗？Wǒ de jiànkāng bǎo shàng hái méiyǒu cháxún dào hésuān jiéguǒ, nǐ néng bāng wǒ kàn kàn ma? （I still haven't gotten my nucleic test result on my jiankangbao, can you check it for me?)

A question the hospital might ask you is: 你什么时候做的核酸？超过24 小时了吗？Nǐ shénme shíhòu zuò de hésuān? Chāoguò 24 xiǎoshíliǎo ma？（When did you get your covid test? Has it been over 24 hours?)

If it has been longer than 24 hours since you took your covid test, you can just say this:是的，超过24小时了。可以帮我看看出结果了吗？Shì de, chāoguò 24 xiǎoshíliǎo. Kěyǐ bāng wǒ kàn kàn chū jiéguǒle ma? (Yes. It has been more than 24 hours. Can you help me look up the result?)

If the hospital has already received your result, you might be able to print your nucleic acid test report in the outpatient department of the hospital a few hours later.

3.Check on other platforms

If you are experiencing issues with WeChat when trying to access your test result, you can also find it in Alipay. Here’s what you should do.

Go to your Alipay and click on Healthcode.

Then click on 立即查看 Lìjí chákàn, and just like that, you will be able to access your jiankangbao again through Alipay!

4. What if you cannot access your Jiankangbao on WeChat?

This doesn't happen very often, but sometimes you may be unable to access your jiankangbao and there might be a window that reads: due to weak signals and unstable network, please try again later.

You can solve this issue by logging out and logging back in. Here's how you do it:

First click on the tab circled in the picture below.

Hit 退出登录 Tuìchū dēnglù, fill out your info, and you will be able to log back in.

5. Maybe it's a system upgrade?

Some of you might have experienced an incident similar to the one last week in which all Covid test results were wiped from the majority of foreigners' jiankangbaos. 

This was due to a system upgrade, and when such thing happens, you will just have to temporarily delay your plans and wait patiently for the upgrade to be completed, most of the time, your jiankangbao will be back to normal within the same day.

READ: These Chinese Industries Have Won Big During Covid

Images: Irene Li