KUALA LUMPUR: Private clinics screening workers for the Covid-19 virus prior to them resuming work under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) are discouraged from using antibody Rapid Test Kits (RTK) for the purpose.
Instead, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said tests to detect the coronavirus should be an antigen-based, either through Real Time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) or through the RTK Antigen based test.
He said both tests would need the application of nasofarinks (NPS) swabs by trained health personnel; using appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and laboratory equipment such as the Biological Safety Cabinet (BSC) to process the samples.
"The antibody RTK serological tests which use blood samples from a finger prick, could not be used as a detection test because the presence of antibodies could not validate the active infection.
"While a negative result does not guarantee the person was not infected by Covid-19.
"However, the antibody RTK test can be used to conduct a study on the prevalence of Covid-19 infection in a community or among target groups such as a group of workers," he said in his press conference today.
Dr Noor Hisham said the test is in line with the World Health Organisation's (WHO) recommendation that RTK antibodies can be used in epidemiological studies.
He also added that currently there was no solid evidence from scientific studies to prove that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and have antibodies were protected from a second infection.
New Straits Times updated May 11, 2020 @ 7:17pm
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