KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya has been slammed for not ramping the country’s Covid-19 testing capacity to 150,000 per day despite promising to do so.
Former energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister Yeo Bee Yin said Malaysia’s testing capacity is still around 70,000 a day, months on.
“There have been calls from many groups, including opposition lawmakers, to ramp up the country’s testing capacity. In fact, in January, the government said it was targeting to increase RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) testing capacity from about 70,000 to 100,000 with the aim to reach 150,000.
“Months have now passed, and our testing figures still revolve around 70,000 per day. Where is the promised 150,000?” she said in a statement today.
She added that the government makes no attempt to run other large-scale screening initiatives to identify positive cases in the community.
“It completely ignored calls from many groups to include rapid antigen testing (RTK-Ag) in nationwide screening processes. While RTK-Ag may be less accurate, it makes up for speed and capacity (as it is widely available and not restricted by lab capacity).
“It surely has a place to play as a stopgap measure as we struggle in increasing RT-PCR capacity. One of the most important but straightforward actions to contain the spread of the virus is through testing and isolation.
“The faster we find Covid-19-positive people in the community and isolate them, the less likely it is for them to spread the virus in the community.”
She said many families are struggling to get by in terms of finance, jobs, education, business, physical and mental health amid the third movement control order (MCO).
“Tackling the Covid-19 crisis is not an easy one, but if after a year, the government cannot even get basic things like tests and isolation right, what hope do Malaysians have? How many more MCOs can we afford to bring the country out of Covid-19 crisis?”
Yesterday, Malaysia logged another 4,113 Covid-19 cases and 34 deaths. The cumulative caseload now stands at 462,190 and the death toll is at 1,822. – The Vibes, May 15, 2021
