KUALA LUMPUR – The two Covid-19 test kits based on the deep throat saliva sampling method and RTK-Antigen developed by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) will be ready next week.
In a tweet today, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Medical Device Authority is in the midst of preparing details and usage guidelines.
“The two self-assessment saliva tests have been successfully developed by IMR. Both show a sensitivity of more than 90%.”
In a reply to his tweet, he added that the RT-PCR test remains a diagnostic and confirmatory tool for Covid-19 screening.
Dua ujian kendiri (Rapid Antigen test) air liur telah selesai dikaji oleh IMR untuk saringan Covid-19. Kedua-dua mempunyai sensitiviti melebhi 90%. MDA sedang memperincikan panduan pengunaan dan InshaAllah akan selesai minggu depan.
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) July 7, 2021
In early March, Dr Noor Hisham had said the Health Ministry has identified seven hospitals to conduct field assessments on the deep throat saliva sampling method for Covid-19 screening.
“We are at the evaluation stage, and we hope to get the complete report before recommending the deep throat saliva method for real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antigen (RTK-Ag) rapid test kit tests.”
The seven hospitals are Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Kedah, Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital in Terengganu, Sg Buloh Hospital in Selangor, Melaka Hospital, Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Negri Sembilan, and Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor.
The IMR has been evaluating the deep throat saliva method since February.
Dr Ravindran Thayan, head of the Virology Unit at the Infectious Diseases Research Centre, was reported as saying that the IMR has evaluated saliva (early morning saliva) and deep throat saliva as an alternative sample for Covid-19 testing using the RT-PCR platform.
He had said that results indicated that those samples were equally as good as nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) for Covid-19 testing.
“There will be reduced use of PPE (personal protective equipment) and subjects can self-collect deep throat saliva. Currently, IMR is evaluating the use of the RTK-Ag to test using deep-throat saliva.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham had said health personnel must be trained to take the samples.
“It is only a sample detecting method. The tests (for Covid-19) remain the same, which is RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) or RTK-Ag.” – The Vibes, July 7, 2021
