KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia continues to ramp up its resources in the battle against the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic by increasing its RT-PCR testing capacity of up to 54,706 samples daily.
This was made possible following the integrated cooperation of all 61 labs under the Health Ministry, Malaysia Armed Forces, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, public and private higher education institutions as well as the private sector.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said of the total labs, 13 of them are from public universities under the Higher Education Ministry.
He said privately-run laboratories are also in the process of mobilising resources to the maximum level.
"As of October 14, the total usage of the country's laboratories has reached 42 per cent .
"The percentage is expected to increase to test more samples especially those from the (Covid-19) red zone, yellow zone as well as from the on-going active case detection and close contact tracing being carried out by the Health Ministry," he said in a statement today.
Dr Adham also announced the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's laboratory and the laboratory at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah in Sabah with a capacity of testing 2,500 samples daily have commenced operations.
"There are also samples from Sabah flown to the peninsular via Royal Malaysia Air Force special flights," he said.
Dr Adham added the process is on-going to equip the laboratory at the health clinic in Kubota, Tawau to conduct testing of samples taken using the RT-PCR method.
"To enable early detection of more positive Covid-19 cases, RTK-AG test has been used on the ground.
"The ministry will continue to intensify efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19," he said.