Health DG wants private labs to ramp up Covid-19 testing

 

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has called on private laboratories to ramp up their testing for Covid-19.

At present, Noor Hisham said they are operating at less than half of their maximum capacity.

"We have to push 31 private labs for more tests to be done. 

"At the moment they are running at less than 30 percent capacity," he said on Twitter. 

In contrast, Noor Hisham told Malaysiakini that government labs are running at full capacity.

"Our (health ministry facilities) almost 100 percent," he said.

He added that university labs also have room to boost their testing capacity.

Noor Hisham also reiterated that positive cases are often reported earlier than negative cases due to the need for urgent contact tracing.

This would lead to elevated figures. He said this was particularly the case for private labs that are late in reporting negative results.

Yesterday, Malaysia conducted 83,731 Covid-19 tests. This was in contrast to 90,238 tests a week ago.

Concerns have been raised on whether the country was getting an accurate picture of the Covid-19 situation and whether testing has been adequate.

For example, testing data between June 6 and 12 for Negeri Sembilan showed an elevated positivity rate of 10.82 percent.

The data was in contrast to the 1.81 percent to 8.85 percent in other states.

This indicated that testing was insufficient in Negeri Sembilan and there were higher than expected cases in the state, which manifested this week when detected cases in Negeri Sembilan surged.

It recorded the second-highest number of new daily cases after Selangor for five consecutive days.

Apart from Negeri Sembilan, Labuan also saw an elevated positivity rate of 13.72 percent for the week of June 6 to 12.

This week, Labuan Hospital was reported to be under strain and a field hospital is in the works. 

The national testing capacity comprises both government and private laboratories. - Mkini