PUTRAJAYA, Feb 22 — The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) has assured adequate supply of the self-test Covid-19 Antigen Rapid Test Kits or RTKs, with some 18 million units in the market currently.
The MDTCA, in a statement today, said the availability of the RTKs was based on daily monitoring and inspections carried out by the ministry on importers, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to ensure stable supply of the product in the market.
RTK has been gazetted as a controlled item under the Control of Supplies (Controlled Goods) Order (No.6) 2021 on 24 Nov 2021 and came into force on December 1, 2021, to ensure its availability and sufficient supply in the market.
According to the ministry, eight manufacturers that been given conditional permission to produce the RTK in Malaysia have produced a total of 4.306 million units of RTK until February 2022, while a total of 2.34 million units of RTK have been imported from from seven countries.
On complaints of shortage of the RTK in the market, it said only three reports were received since January 1 until yesterday.
On the price range of RTK in the market, it said it is between RM4.90 and RM19.90 per unit.
“Eighty per cent of RTK is sold for under RM10.00 per unit,” said the ministry.
The ministry said a total of 8,084 retail premises have been given permission to sell RTK which is recognised by the Malaysian Medical Device Authority (MDA) and advised the public not to panic over reports on the increase in Covid-19 cases by making panic buying or excessive purchase of the RTKs. — Bernama