Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced back in February that suppliers of COVID-19 test kits would be called for evaluation following public complaints on inconsistent results, with supplies ordered to attain quality assurances from the principal manufacturer of the kits. The minister said that the MDA has so far assessed 22 brands of self-test kits. Of that, the results of 12 companies have been confirmed, with the two brands previously mentioned failing to meet the set standards and having their approval revoked. The agency discouraged the public from buying any COVID-19 tests that do not meet the specifications of the MDA as it may be unsafe to use. Khairy previously advised the citizens to rely more on self-test kits instead of PCR tests during the country’s endemic transition phase. He insisted that the test kits were more effective in tackling the Omicron wave, as it provides results in just 15 minutes while PCR test results take 24 to 48 hours. (Source: Khairy Jamaluddin/Twitter)
