PUTRAJAYA: The experience of widespread or mass testing in areas under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) has shown that such approach produced lower detection rates.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said so far, the ministry had screened 83,488 cases nationwide with 4,817 of them testing positive, which accounts for a detection rate of 5.8 per cent.
However, in areas where the EMCO was implemented, such as Simpang Renggam and Hulu Langat, where the ministry tested every single person, regardless of whether they were high risk or with symptoms or asymptomatic, the detection rate was lower.
“When we screened everybody in that area, we only found 0.5 per cent of positive cases, which means if we screen 1,000 people, the percentage is only 0.5 per cent.”
This detection rate is very low, he added.
“The question now is do we test everybody in a community or focus only on the high risk groups...
"And we believe we can get better outcome if we focus on high risk groups rather than screen everyone in a community,” he said.
This approach would also ensure that existing resources can be used more efficiently.
He also revealed that the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by medical staff has increased tremendously.
"They are using 10 times more of such gear than they normally would." he said.
Currently, he added that the ministry has enough PPE stocks to last for two weeks and was in the process of procuring more for its personnel.
On the other hand, the number of ventilators available, which is 950, is adequate for current needs, said Dr Noor Hisham.