Our daily testing rate based on WHO benchmark, says DG

PETALING JAYA: The health ministry’s daily Covid-19 testing rate is based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) benchmark, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

The health director-general said WHO had set an “adequate test rate” that for each positive case, there could be a range of 10 to 30 negative cases.

Noor Hisham said the issue often faced by the ministry was the slow input of negative case data into the public health laboratory information system (Simka) from private sector laboratories each day and especially on holidays.

However, he said, positive cases were quickly reported.

“Even so, the daily testing rates are adequate according to the WHO benchmark and the number of negative cases may be more than reported,” he said on Twitter.

Noor Hisham also said that the matter concerning RTK-Antigen self-test kits was still being discussed on how the results would be recorded in Simka.

Yesterday, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said the government must not give a false impression that the number of daily cases was dropping, but must instead be transparent with its Covid-19 testing rates.

Yii said failing to adjust the decreasing figures according to testing and positivity rates was meaningless and gave a “false sense of security”. — Free Malaysia Today