FAST-TRACK Covid-19 swab test kits that can produce results hours quicker and with a higher accuracy will be trialled by the Health Ministry soon.

Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told The Malaysian Insight that the country already has the kits, which will be used on suspected coronavirus patients after they are cleared by the ministry.

“We have (them) and we will test them soon,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Singapore has already started using fast-track kits, which can yield results in just three hours instead of the usual seven and with a 99% accuracy rate.

Dr Noor Hisham, however, would not confirm if the kits to be tested in Malaysia were sourced from the republic.

Since Thursday, tests have been conducted on visitors entering Singapore with fever or respiratory symptoms, but are not defined as being a “clinical suspect case”.

The test kit was developed by the country’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency, and Veredus Laboratories.

Researchers have said it has an accuracy rate of more than 99%.

The price of the kit was not disclosed by Singapore’s Health Ministry.

The test kits currently used in Singapore hospitals cost around S$270 (RM820), although testing is free for all suspected cases. – March 11, 2020.