Covid-19 mass testing to focus on high-risk groups

The health ministry says participants at mass gatherings, tahfiz schools students and those returning from overseas will be given priority for mass Covid-19 testing.

PUTRAJAYA: The health ministry will focus mass testing for Covid-19 on high-risk groups, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this evening.

They include those who attended public gatherings, like participants of a tabligh event at a mosque in Sri Petaling, tahfiz schools students as well as those who returned from overseas.

“These are some of the high-risk groups we have identified and this is our priority,” he said at a press conference here.

Noor Hisham said the ministry’s current testing capacity was 11,500 a day, but it was hoping to increase the figure.

He said once Malaysia obtained a “reliable and accurate” rapid test kit, it hoped to test more than 20,000 people. And if that happened, it was possible to test 100,000 in five days.

“But instead of looking into mass testing, it would focus on the high-risk group first,” he said, adding that it was best to prioritise the high-risk group across the country when taking into account the ministry’s limited resources.

Two days ago, Noor Hisham revealed that new test kits with a promise of 80% accuracy would arrive next week from South Korea.

He said the ministry had been testing two test kits of different brands from China and another from South Korea, but they had proved unreliable, with an accuracy rate of 50% or below.

Noor Hisham said authorities had isolated and quarantined 25,000 people returning from overseas since last Friday in its centres and hotels.

Previously, those who returned from overseas were required to self-quarantine at home.

He also said the ministry was looking into the possibility of empowering the community, like the managements of condominium blocks, to safeguard their area.

“The Orang Asli as well as those in longhouses have implemented this to ensure high-risk groups are not allowed close contact with the community.

“If you can do that, you are protecting your ‘green area’. You take care of your home, you take care of your community and we can review how we implement the movement control order (MCO),” he said.- FMT