THE Health Ministry is in the midst of procuring antigen test kits from South Korea, which is proven to provide more accurate results, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. 

The director-general of health said it planned to use the kits for mass screening for targeted groups. 

“We have already placed our orders for the antigen test kits,” he said at the ministry’s daily press conference on the Covid-19 situation in the country. 

“Hopefully by next week or so, when we get the kits, we can aim for mass screening,” he said. 

He said the test kits, known as Standard Q- Bio Sensor, has a sensitivity of 84.4%. 

It also has a 100% specificity, meaning it is specifically designed to detect Covid-19. 

The ministry today announced that with 119 patients discharged from hospital, the number of Covid-19 recoveries reported today exceeded the number of new cases.

Dr Noor Hisham said this brings the number of recoveries to 2,766, which translates to 53.4% of the total number of cases reported. 

He said 110 new cases were reported as of 12pm today, bringing the total infections to 5,182. 

One death was recorded today, with the death toll now standing at 84.

The deceased was a 66-year old man with a history of chronic illness, such as heart disease and high blood pressure.

He was treated at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and was pronounced dead at 12.55pm yesterday. – April 16, 2020.