KEWARTAWANAN
ARE RAPID
TEST KITS
ACCURATE?
- Nor Haidya Syafira
After almost five months,
Malaysians suspected of
having COVID-19 were
examined using Polymerase
Chain Reaction (PCR), which can
be used to detect small amounts of
pathogens including viruses like HIV
using a sample from a patient by
swabbing the nose or throat for mucus.
However, starting May 1, 2020,
the Ministry of Health (MoH) will use
150,000 rapid test
kits from South
This helps us diagnose patients at the
Korea.
early stage of disease and treat them
Rapid test
quickly.
kit is a medical
diagnostic test -- CEO of SolGent Company --
that is quick and
easy to perform.
This kit needs blood samples obtained
from finger-pricking. They provide
same-day results within two hours,
typically in approximately 20 minutes.
According to Director-General
Ministry of Health, Datuk Seri Dr Noor
Hisham, Malaysia will give priority to
the Sabah, Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur
International Airport.
SASARAN EDISI 82 57
However, do rapid test kits really
work?
According to Dr Noor Hisham, the
rapid test kit has almost 100 percent
accuracy in detecting COVID-19 in
the human body. Rapid test kit named
the Standard Q Bio-Censor has 84.4
percent capacity to detect the virus.
This development means that out
of the 100 inspected cases, 84.4 percent
successfully detect the virus.
“We are going to
proceed to test our
population using the
antigen rapid test kit
and PCR test will
complement in case
there is doubt in
terms of any arising
issues from the result of the antigen
rapid test kit,” he said.
Moreover, according to the CEO
of SolGent Company, You Jae-Hyung,
this new kit is more sensitive than the
previous ones.
“It means that it is able to detect
the virus even smaller than amounts of
present ranging between 10 and 50