THE price of Covid-19 self-test kits could be further reduced by the end of the year, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said today.

This is part of expanding testing efforts and making the kits available to everyone, he said in his speech at the National Recovery Summit, held online.

“The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and the Health Ministry have set the ceiling price for these kits below RM20.

“Both ministries are looking at further revising down the prices by end of this year,” Tengku Zafrul said.

The retail price of one unit is currently capped at RM19.90, a decision the government made recently.

The wholesale ceiling price, meanwhile, is RM16.

The government has said that Covid-19 will be endemic and is expecting to move the country into the endemic phase by the end of October, when 80% of the population should be vaccinated.

Tengku Zafrul today said other plans for the country to live with Covid-19 that will be covered in Budget 2022 includes factoring in booster shots or multi-year vaccination programmes into our public healthcare protocols.

Other measures are establishing a dedicated call centre to help people manage  infection causes, whole genome sequencing by the Institute of Medical Research to detect the presence and spread of new variants in Malaysia, and finding effective ways of managing long Covid-19.

“(Putrajaya) is also studying a much better way to deploy the Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support method, or FTTIS, on an end-to-end basis,” he said.

Greater use of technology and mobility data will be used in contact tracing, so that potential close contacts will be identified and notified on the need to quarantine themselves, he added.

As it stands, quarantine is only mandatory for those who are confirmed positive cases with asymptomatic and mild symptoms.

“The government will progressively update the national recovery plan (NRP) to prepare Malaysia for the next normal of living with Covid-19 as an endemic disease.

“We will not compromise on what is required to place our public healthcare on a stronger footing, through the NRP, and later through Budget 2022,” he said. – September 9, 2021.