MoH increases Covid-19 testing capacity to 54,706 a day — Adham Baba

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 15): The Ministry of Health (MoH) has increased its Covid-19 testing capacity to 54,706 a day as the country grapples with the third wave of Covid-19 infections amid mounting concern whether the country has sufficient treatment capacity. 

In a statement today, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the capacity of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests will go up to 54,706 a day, with 61 laboratories available from MoH, the Malaysian Armed Forces, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), as well as universities and private laboratories.

“As of Oct 14, 2020, 42% of the country’s laboratory capacity is used and this percentage is expected to increase to test more samples, especially from the red zones, yellow zones as well as screening activities and active case detection of close contacts by the MoH,” he said.

He further added that other laboratories in Sabah, including the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Laboratory and University Malaysia Sabah Laboratory, with a capacity of 2,500 tests a day are already operational.

“Meanwhile, the remaining samples from all over Sabah were sent by the Malaysian Air Force to Peninsular [Malaysia].

“Apart from that, the Tawau Kubota Health Clinic Laboratory is being equipped to conduct RT-PCR tests and is expected to operate in the near future,” said Adham Baba.

However, MoH director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Oct 6, the MoH has a total of 6,795 beds, comprising 2,820 beds at hospitals and 3,975 beds at quarantine and low-risk treatment centres, to treat Covid-19 patients.

According to data released by the ministry on Oct 9, 36% of beds, or about 1,015 beds, at public hospitals were taken up at the time, while 29% of beds, or 1,153 beds, at quarantine and low-risk treatment centres were occupied.

When contacted by theedgemarkets.com on Oct 13, the ministry said the MoH’s bed capacity remains the same.

However, it remains unclear if Malaysia has enough hospital beds to treat Covid-19 patients following the spike in new Covid-19 cases lately, especially when Sabah recorded the highest number of infections in the country.

Yesterday, Sabah had 429 cases from 660 cases reported nationwide. Total cases in Sabah stood at 5,493 — the highest among all states and federal territories, followed by Selangor (2,814), Kuala Lumpur (2,804), Kedah (1,852) and Negeri Sembilan (1,084).

Malaysia’s total cases stood at 17,540 since the Covid-19 outbreak hit the country in January.