Umno leader tests positive for Covid-19 under RTK, taking swab test to reconfirm

 

An Umno supreme council member, who was campaigning in the Sabah election, has tested positive for Covid-19 according to media reports.

When contacted, Mohd Razlan Rafii acknowledged the reports. Razlan said he was currently waiting for the results of a follow-up swab test, and is hoping for a false positive.

"The first test was an RTK (rapid test kit), this second test is an RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction). The results should be out today or tomorrow," he told Malaysiakini.

Razlan was reported to have been campaigning in Sipitang when he tested positive for Covid-19.

He is currently being held at a hospital in Kota Kinabalu.

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin last night, when asked about the reports of an infected Umno leader, said it was a suspected case but not yet confirmed.

"But he has already been put under quarantine for 14 days," Bung told reporters in Tawau last night.

Previously, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had said that RTKs used by the ministry has a sensitivity rate of 85 percent, and a specificity rate of 100 percent.

“This means that out of 100 people who have been tested, 10 of them might have a false negative result. This is one of the weaknesses of the test,” he had said, according to The Edge.

However, it is unclear how often the RTK can produce a false positive.

An RT-PCR, administered using through a nasal swab, is considered the gold standard and is more accurate than RTK. - Mkini