LISA Yap’s new norm is to do a Covid-19 self-test before visiting her parents.

The 30-year-old lawyer said this is for peace of mind and to ensure she is not bringing the virus back home.

“My parents are both above 70 years’ old and they have health issues. I have now gone back to work full time in the office, so when I visit them, I always self-test to make sure the results are negative.”

Covid-19 self-test kits continue to be a popular item on shopping lists, but sales at some retail pharmacies have tapered down after an initial spike when they were first made available more than a month ago.

Retail pharmacies also have to compete with grocery stores, supermarkets and online platforms, which are allowed to sell them in line with the government’s policy of making the kits widely available.

Chan, a pharmacist at Straits Pharmacy in Malacca, said sales of self-test kits depend on a pharmacy’s location and the area’s foot traffic.

“Initially, we were selling around 200 to 300 kits per day. Now it is about 30 to 40,” said Chan, who asked to be identified by her surname.

“To date, we have sold about 1,500 kits. Most people already have them at home, others are only buying it when they need it, like buying Panadol when you have a headache.

“Unlike in the beginning where the kits were only available in pharmacies, you can now buy them in places like Mydin and your local grocery store. So, that also affects how many units are sold.”

In Kuala Lumpur, a pharmacist in Desa Sri Hartamas, whose store is part of a retail chain, said her store has sold more than 10,000 units since the kits hit the market.

“We saw a spike in the number of test kits sold daily when the price was lowered. As for pulse oximeters, we still sell around 100 units per day,” she said, requesting anonymity as she was not authorised by her head office to speak to the media.

She anticipates sales of self-test kits will pick up again with more economic sectors reopening and interstate travel resuming.

Another pharmacy located near the Mont Kiara International school said they too, have seen a spike in the number of test kits sold.

“To date, we have sold around 5,000 kits. Daily we sell around 50 units. We are located near an international school and there are offices around here, too, so many of our customers come from here,” the pharmacist on duty who spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not authorised to speak to the press.

She added that there was a spike in sales just before the Langkawi travel bubble launched on September 16, but this has now tapered down.

An independent pharmacy in Overseas Union Garden, Kuala Lumpur, said its sales of test kits has dipped drastically due to competition.

“We need to compete with other chain pharmacies so we only sell around one to two units a day. So far we have sold around 2,000 units,” said the pharmacist, who declined to be named.

The government first gave conditional approval to two Covid-19 self-test kits on July 20. As of October 24, there are now 24 self-test kits that have received conditional approval from the Medical Device Authority, which comes under the Health Ministry.

The price is regulated and has been lowered from between RM28 to RM40 to RM16 for wholesale and RM19.90 for retail, to make it accessible to the B40 group. The price will likely be reduced again by the end of this year, according to Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

Keeping others safe

Many who frequently self-test at home said they did so to keep themselves and those around them safe.

They said it has now become a norm to test themselves before meeting their parents, after a day out, or when they feel unwell.

Mala Subramaniam, 35, said the Covid-19 epidemic has made her a little paranoid so she does a self-test whenever she feels unwell to eliminate the possibility she has caught the virus.

“There was one week that I felt ill and my symptoms were quite similar to Covid-19 patients. I was having a fever and diarrhoea.

“Instead of going to the doctor I did the self-test just to make sure it wasn’t Covid. Turns out it was just a regular cold and I recovered after a few days,” she said.

Susannah Lim, 29, meanwhile said she only uses the self-test kit after close contact with someone who is Covid-19-positive.

“I don’t do the test regularly. I only do it when I have been notified that I was in close contact with a Covid-19 patient.”

On September 13, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 107,421 Covid-19 cases as of that date have been detected with the use of self-test kits, or out of 788,919 RTK-Antigen tests.

The wide availability of self-test kits, however, poses a problem for retail pharmacists – to ensure people know how to use the kits correctly.

Chan, the pharmacist in Malacca, said her store received calls from people who bought the kits elsewhere and wanted to know how to use them.

“When people buy the test kits outside a pharmacy, sometimes the sellers don’t explain very well how to use the kits and people end up getting false positives.

“We now get a lot of calls from people asking us to teach them how to use the kits, or after having bought the kits from other places, they come to our pharmacy to ask us how to use them,” she said.

The Malaysian Pharmacists’ Society last month urged the public to buy self-test kits only from registered pharmacists who could explain correctly how they should be used.

It warned that the kits are “medical devices, not toys” and had to be used correctly to prevent false negative results, which would not help in fighting the virus outbreak. – October 9, 2021.