A question of mass testing to weed out COVID-19 infections in Malaysia
Malaysia is apparently still under-testing its people – some may have been infected or are spreading the deadly COVID-19 virus – and the next two weeks of the Movement Control Order (MCO) will be critical in determining if it can effectively suppress COVID-19 infections. The number of positive cases in the country has regrettably spiked in the last two weeks, even with the MCO in place.
According to the Managing editor of a local medical gazette, Dr. Khoo Yoong Khean, it is advisable to keep track of positive cases in the country by tests per million population instead of the total number of tests done. For example, South Korea is doing 6,500 tests per million people and Singapore is doing 6,800 tests per million people, which has shown to curb the rise in cases.
He added that the death rate and/or severe cases are more reflective of the outbreak. This will enable Malaysian healthcare to prepare more adequately to match the rise in cases.
“At the moment, the country is expected to record a higher number of positive cases with increased testing, as well as a big cluster,” Dr. Khoo said. The cluster is expected to stem from the tabligh group, which is believed to have spread to the fourth and fifth generations already.
Another Malaysian-based Senior consultant paediatrician, Datuk Dr. Amar Singh H.S.S., claims people without symptoms – those who have not been tested – could be spreaders themselves.
“We are in a mess. We need to ramp up our tests enormously,” he chided. Dr. Amar also urged the relevant quarters to increase considerably the number of tests conducted.
In regards to mass testing, which requires a lot of resources, Dr. Amar thinks everybody who has come into contact with a positive case should be tested – this includes all healthcare professionals who are on the front line and are very likely to be infected; service providers, such as deliverymen and cashiers, who meet the mass community every day; and all those in an area where a massive outbreak has occurred.
Dr. Khoo pointed out several reasons why Malaysia could not test everyone earlier.
“Our domestic production of test kits and the global production of test kits were low in the initial stages of the disease; any production in China, South Korea or Taiwan was also understandably kept for domestic use, not for export to Malaysia.”
A member of the newly-formed Malaysian Health Coalition, Dr. Khor Swee Kheng, said the pros of mass testing in the country far outweighs the cons as it will ultimately enable the government to understand the disease and manage the outbreak. It will also greatly help to track cases and keep risks to a minimum.
As a result of the continuous urging from various quarters, Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said mass testing for COVID-19 would be done by the Ministry of Health (MOH), especially in high-risk areas, to curb its spread in the country. Muhyiddin also said that the MOH will increase its capacity to conduct screening tests on a larger scale.
On April 1, Malaysians entered their third week of MCO, which was extended from its original end-date of March 31 and is expected to come to an end on April 14.
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