Health officers conduct the Covid-19 antigen rapid test at Laurent Bleu, CMC Centre Cheras January 11, 2021. — Picture by Choo Choy May
KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Malaysia has ramped up its Covid-19 tests and conducted over 100,000 cases in the last 10 days since July 7, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today as daily infections stay above the 11,000 mark.
He said the number of tests being performed were the highest in the last two days.
In two tweets, Dr Noor Hisham disclosed data showing the number of both RT-PCR and RTK-Ag tests conducted in public facilities in the last two weeks.
The data showed that tests conducted in the last three days — when daily infections crossed 11,000 — were significantly higher.
On July 13, a total of 138,129 tests were carried out when the Health Ministry announced 11,079 new Covid-19 cases.
The next day, 141,169 tests were run when 11,681 new cases were announced.
And yesterday, 141,523 tests were conducted when the new cases logged in at the record high of 13,215.
Dr Noor Hisham also said that Malaysia’s testing capacity can be increased by roping in private laboratories to handle targeted screening.
“[On July 15] Selangor conducted 52,889 tests while KL conducted 18,369 tests. There is still capacity for more tests and it can still be added, for example in private laboratories.
“This capacity is best used for the Covid-19 targeted testing,” he tweeted.
On July 8, Dr Noor Hisham attributed the surge in Covid-19 cases in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur to a ramp-up in public health measures including screening and testing in areas under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) that took effect on July 3.