‘More reliable’ Covid-19 test kits for trials

The health ministry wants the test kits to have at least 80% accuracy before buying them in bulk for use in hospitals. (AP pic)

PETALING JAYA: Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says new test kits with a promise of 80% accuracy will 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 have proved unreliable, with an accuracy rate of 50% or below, he added.

Noor Hisham voiced hope that the test kits set to arrive next week from South Korea would prove to be more reliable.

“If the accuracy rate is 80%, then we can use them. But if it’s 50%, then it’ll be very difficult for us to use because there will be false positive tests and false negative tests,” he said.

With kits of 50% accuracy “you will think you have the virus, when you don’t have it, and when you think you don’t have the virus, then you have the virus,” he said at the ministry’s daily press conference today.

Last week, Noor Hisham said the ministry hoped to be able to order up to one million units of rapid test kits.

He said at present local laboratories have the capacity to carry out 7,100 tests a day. The ministry hopes to be able to carry out 16,000 tests a day soon.

The death toll from the Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia has increased to 57, with four more casualties recorded over the last 24 hours.

A total of 150 new cases were also reported, pushing the total number of infected patients nationwide to 3,483.

Today, 88 more patients were discharged, bringing the total number of recoveries to 915, 26.7% of the total number of cases. - FMT