Selangor Giving Saliva Test Kits To Families With Covid-19 Cases

The free Covid-19 saliva-based test kits will be distributed through community service centres and state assemblymen’s coordinating offices.

KUALA LUMPUR, August 12 — The Selangor state government will be distributing 60,000 free saliva test kits to residents, particularly families with exposure to a household member who has tested positive for Covid-19.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, in a media briefing today, said the kits will be distributed through community service centres and state assemblymen’s (DUN) coordinating offices.

“We will target families with positive cases. They will be identified via result tests at PKD (district health offices) or SelCare operation, and these results will be channelled to one database under the Selangor State Health Department. Hopefully, these families will be able to test frequently and identify their status,” he said.

Amirudin noted that Selangor continues to practise the find, test, trace, isolate, support (FTTIS) Covid-19 infection control method, albeit among targeted communities with high infection risk.

Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force (GKVSTF) chief Dr Chong Chee Kheong last week described mass testing as unfeasible, both in Selangor and throughout the country, due to the large population size and short testing windows required for mass testing to be effective.

As a result, he said Malaysia likely has four times more Covid-19 cases than are being officially reported due to limited testing. The country reported a 24-hour record high 21,668 new cases today, of which 6,278 were from Selangor.

“In Selangor, we want to add value by adding on to the effort carried out at the federal level. So if mass testing is not feasible at the federal level, the state government will do it but we will do targeted mass testing — namely, in areas where there are high numbers of specific cases.

“For example, we’ve received some requests from assemblymen in Subang Jaya and Kota Anggerik where there are high numbers of Covid-19 deaths. We will conduct mass testing in those areas and their neighbourhoods depending on the testing supplies we have.

“Our target is to conduct 100,000 tests (at all 56 DUNs), which we have surpassed actually, and we still have a balance of about 16,000 test kits in our reserves which will be used in our free test kit distribution programme,” he said.

The state government also announced the distribution of an additional RM1 million in death benefit aid (khairat kematian), where cash assistance worth RM1,000 will be distributed to an additional 1,000 families. Applications are open via https://www.selangorprihatin.com until December 31, 2021.

Selangor is also offering aid worth RM2,795,085 to 10,868 farmers in the form of rice seeds, pest control materials and pesticides to increase rice production that can help maintain food security during this period.

You may also like