PUTRAJAYA MAR.6: The COVID-19 infection is on an upward trend recording 33,406 new cases as of 5th Mar. 2022. bringing the cumulative totals to 3,595,172 with 27,143 cured cases and 3,250,793 (90.4 per cent) as the cumulative cases.
Director General of Health, Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said, 371 cases have to be admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICU) while 226 needed respiratory aids.
“From the new cases, 342 were imported involving 282 citizens (82.5 per cent) and 60 non-citizens (17.5 per cent) However, 33,064 were local cases involving 32,074 citizens (97.0 per cent) and 990 non-citizens (3.0 per cent),” Dr. Noor said in a statement here today.
Dr. Noor Hisham added, from the 33,406 daily cases reported 13,157 cases (39.39%) in category 1, 20,035 cases (59.97%) category 2; 92 cases (0.28%) category 3; 69 cases (0.20%) category 4 and 53 cases (0.16%) category 5.
Elaborating on that Dr. Noor Hisham said, from 214 new COVID-19 cases of categories 3, 4, and 5 reported on March 5, 2022, 60 cases (28.04%) were not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated; 101 cases (47.20%) had received two (2) doses of COVID-19 vaccine but had not received a booster dose; 53 cases (24.77%) had received a booster dose; 96 cases (44.86%) were aged 60 years and above ,70 cases (32.71%) had co-morbidities; and one case (0.47%) of cases was a case of a pregnant mother.
The Director General said, there are 11 clusters formed with 474 still active, 6,363 have expired and 6,837 have been formed since the COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020.
Dr. Noor Hisham stressed that the COVID-19 infectivity rate in Malaysia is 1.05 based on the daily cases as of 5th Mar.2022 followed by Sarawak 1.41; Perak 1.26; Kuala Lumpur 1.25; Terengganu 1.15; Pahang and Selangor 1.10; Negeri Sembilan and Perlis 1.09; Pulau Pinang 1.08; Melaka and Kedah 1.05; Putrajaya 1,03; Labuan and Kelantan 1.00; Johor 0.97and Sabah 0.87.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Health (MOH) has informed that the Rapid Antigen Test Kit (RTK-Ag) is a test kit to detect the presence of antigen (nucleocapsid protein) on the SARS-CoV-2 virus in people infected with COVID-19.
There are two types of RTK-Ag, namely professional and self-use kits. Professional kits can only be carried out by trained health personnel in a health facility using Nasopharyngeal Swab (NPS) or Oropharyngeal Swab (OPS) samples. RTK-Ag itself can be done by the public without the supervision of health personnel. This is because self-RTK-Ag only needs to use less invasive and easily retrieved samples such as saliva and nasal swabs.
Patients who tested positive for RTK-Ag on their own need to report test results through the MySejahtera application, update their health status(Home Assessment Tool), and need to undergo isolation as prescribed by the MOH. For professional RT-PCR and RTK-Ag tests, the laboratory or medical practitioner who conducts the test must report it immediately to the MOH through the Public Health Laboratory Information System (SIMKA).
MOH recommends that all self-or professional RTK Ag tests or RT-PCR conducted should be reported to MOH through MySejahtera or SIMKA, regardless of whether the results are positive or negative. This is to help the MOH get a clearer picture of the rate of infection that occurs in the community.
The RTK-Ag test was performed using the chromatography immunoassay technique .On this antigen kit there are two lines (pre-coated) namely: control line (C) and test (T). If there is a SARS-CoV2 antigen in the sample, a complex of antigen – antibody particles will be formed and the colour in the T line will appear. The colour of the control line C must be present on each test performed to prove that the test is valid. If there is no line colour on C, the test is invalid and needs to be repeated.
RTK-Ag approved for use must have at least 95% sensitivity rate and 95% specificity rate. Therefore, there is a 5% probability of occurrence of a false positive or false negative result .False positive occurs when a kit gives a positive result for an uninfected individual
Among the contributing factors that cause this condition is cross-infection from COVID-19 patients or viral contamination from the environment. False negatives occur when the kit is unable to detect the presence of antigens in patients infected with COVID-19. Among the factors that cause false negatives is an incorrect sampling technique and the time the sample is taken is outside the period of infection. –Malaysia World News
