M'sia's rate of Covid-19 testing above global standard: Health DG
COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today defended the rate of its coronavirus testing, saying that it is above par compared to the global standard set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told a press conference that the global standard is a minimum of 10 to one ratio between negative test results for each positive case found...
COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today defended the rate of its coronavirus testing, saying that it is above par compared to the global standard set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told a press conference that the global standard is a minimum of 10 to one ratio between negative test results for each positive case found.
He revealed that the country's ratio stood at 20 to one.
"For example, yesterday we did 41,895 Covid-19 tests overall. Which means we have 20 negative results for each positive case," he said.
The Health Ministry yesterday recorded 2,176 cases against 41,895 tests done on the same day. The number of tests mentioned by Noor Hisham is a combination of RT-PCR and RTK Antigen tests.
"This shows that we are doing enough testing. Although there is a decline in the number of RT-PCR tests, we are seeing an increase in the number of RTK Antigen tests," he added.
Noor Hisham's statement on testing came in response to criticism against the health authorities recently.
Several health experts and politicians alleged that Malaysia is recording a decline in the number of daily positive cases only because the Health Ministry had reduced the number of tests.
The Health director-general said the recent Chinese New Year holiday season had also contributed to a decline in the number of tests, as private laboratories were said to lack manpower, which cut down the number of tests.
"Secondly, the number of people who wanted to get tested (during the holiday) also declined," Noor Hisham added.
Some private laboratories were found to have neglected reporting negative test results to the government as well, he said, which led to the seemingly low number of testings.
Noor Hisham further denied that asymptomatic close contacts were not tested by health authorities.
Instead, he said, there were delays suffered when the ministry was facing a huge volume of Covid-19 cases, forcing them to prioritise their focus on symptomatic suspects before the asymptomatic ones.
"This was what we did in Sabah (last year), and in the Klang Valley (recently). Priority was given to cases with symptoms.
"But other states still conducted tests on all close contacts, including asymptomatic suspects," he added.
Home quarantine helped ease healthcare system
On the ministry's decision to keep asymptomatic Covid-19 patients at home, Noor Hisham said it helped ease the congestion at government facilities.
The decision was made last month when the country's healthcare system was on the verge of breaking point due to a surge in daily cases.
According to Noor Hisham, the first week of February saw a total of 28,412 positive individuals isolated at home. The number was 19,800 in the second week.
"I believe this helped in easing our hospital and low-risk quarantine centres. The overall bed occupancy (at hospitals) dropped to 47 percent, while at low-risk quarantine centres, it dropped to 37 percent.
"Intensive care unit beds, which once upon a time almost reached 80 and 90 percent occupancy, dropped to 55 percent," he added.
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