SELECTED individuals from the red-zone areas in Selangor will be picked for Covid-19 testing soon, said Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who heads the state’s special task force on the pandemic.

Calling it a community testing programme, Dzulkefly said the individuals will be selected based on their location, age and health status.

These individuals will be notified by the Selangor government, he said, while declining to reveal specific locations.

The initiative is spurred by advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to “test, test, test” to identify carriers, who may be asymptomatic but go on to infect others.

As of yesterday, Selangor has the highest number of Covid-19 cases at 1,118 and six deaths.

The state is also home to four of the top 10 red zones in the country – Hulu Langat, Petaling, Klang and Gombak.

“We would like to test as much as possible but are also limited by our funds, so we are targeting specific areas based on calculations we’ve done,” said Dzulkefly, a former health minister under the Pakatan Harapan administration.

“We will zoom in at these zones and choose individuals we have calculated to be vulnerable and are at risk.”

The state will rely on a team of volunteer doctors and medical professionals from the private sector to carry out the tests which are the same ones used by the Health Ministry.

“We are using the society approach as recommended by the WHO to tackle this pandemic,” he said.

“The state will inform the individuals to be tested and they will be persuaded to come forward as it is an opportunity to know their status.”

Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari announced the programme on Wednesday, adding that it will be rolled out in two to three zones.

Amirudin said between 1,000 and 1,200 individuals will be tested in these zones.

Based on the state government’s records, more than 225 of the 1,118 cases in Selangor were individuals who displayed no outward symptoms of the virus. – April 10, 2020.