Breathalysers, Routine Covid-19 Testing For High-Risk Sectors Under MOH Review

The Health Ministry is evaluating at least two Covid-19 breathalyser brands that can be used for high-risk sectors and activities.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) is planning to deploy breathalysers and implement routine testing in sectors and activities viewed as high-risk for Covid-19.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the health, science and innovation special select parliament committee in a meeting on September 14 the government will consider using breathalysers at several gateways, for social events, and at schools.

Khairy said this during a discussion with the committee on the effectiveness of various test kits and tools used to detect Covid-19 in individuals.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who was also present during the meeting, said RTK antigen test kits approved by the MOH’s Medical Device Authority have an accuracy of over 90 per cent.

“We are very happy with it. But the best is still breath analyser is about 98 per cent. Nanyang Technological University and IMR (Institute for Medical Research) have done the study and now they are using it in Singapore Changi Airport.

“So, we have two brands that have been submitted. We are doing the evaluation and hopefully, the breath analyser can be part of it as well,” Dr Noor Hisham told the committee.

Transcripts of the September 14 meeting were published in the special committee’s “Transitioning from Pandemic to Endemic Covid-19 Safely and Sustainably” report tabled in Parliament on November 1.

Meanwhile, commenting on the National Testing Strategy, Khairy said the initial planning of the testing strategy includes testing for Covid-19 certain high-risk activities, such as conventions and conferences, as well as rostered testing for certain sectors like construction and manufacturing.

“There will be a scheduled or regular rostered testing for certain sectors. So, sectors like construction, sectors like manufacturing, we’ll do rostered testing, trying to work out cost implication—who’s paying for it, employers pay for it or the government subsidise it? So these are all the thoughts that have been put into place,” Khairy said.

Khairy said there is a possibility of making testing a requirement in school settings, especially for students and staff, returning to boarding schools and universities. He said the idea was to test “at the point of going back, five days after, 14 days after” as well as some routine testing.

On Covid-19 tests in the industrial sector, Khairy noted that most major companies, including multinationals, were “very good” at compliance compared to smaller companies.

“Big company is good complying. Physical distancing, they have good ventilation, rostered testing and things like that. They patuh kepada ini. But the things that bring this manufacturing down is the smaller companies that do not have financial resources perhaps,” he said, adding that MOH’s policy is to test all staff once every two weeks.

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