THE Health Ministry is currently testing a South Korean-made rapid test kit for Covid-19, and may buy one million units if the kit proves successful.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said testing is being conducted at Sg Buloh Hospital, the main facility in the frontline battle against the coronavirus.

“We hope to make a decision by tonight. If it is successful and if the accuracy or sensitivity is very high, then we will place an order,” he told a press conference at the ministry in Putrajaya today.

An earlier test on another rapid test kit made in China did not yield accurate results and the ministry decided against ordering the kit.

Noor Hisham said the ministry has to be sure of the accuracy of rapid test kits so as not to make the mistake other countries did when purchasing kits that they ended up not using.

“For example, we do not want to repeat the mistake in Spain where they got 340,000 test kits and are not using them. 

“Their accuracy was only 30% to 40%. When we want to do the tests we have to ensure that the sensitivity is high so that we can detect the effects.”

He also said the ministry’s laboratories are currently running 24 hours and processing 7,100 tests daily.

The ministry is in the midst of increasing the capacity of the Covid-19 frontline by ramping up the number of tests done daily, adding beds and quarantine centres as well as increasing staff by drawing on retired healthcare personnel.

Two more deaths from the coronavirus were reported today, bringing the total number of fatalities to 26 so far.

There are also 130 new cases as of noon today, bringing the total number of cases to 2,161. Of this, 259 patients have recovered and been discharged. – March 27, 2020.