PEOPLE have called in to the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP), expressing concern that the saliva test and nasal swab methods for Covid-19 using self-test kits are providing contradicting results. According to them, the nasal swab showed that they were Covid-19 positive while the saliva test indicated otherwise (false negative). They tested themselves because they had family members who were Covid-19 positive with symptoms.
Their concern is that if the self-test kit is less sensitive by producing false negatives, people may think that their symptoms are non-Covid related and may not undergo self-quarantine, thereby spreading the virus in the community. The other concern is that asymptomatic persons whose self-test results gave false negatives may also not observe self-quarantine.
Putting the onus on the people to conduct their own self-testing does not effectively ensure infected people will isolate from the community. At the same time, depending on the accuracy of self-reporting to the Health Ministry (MoH), this may also result in discrepancies in statistics collection.
People who need to have social contact in the course of their work have been buying and testing themselves on a regular basis. Perhaps, MoH needs to convince them that they have not been doing it in vain.
If the saliva test is not as sensitive as that of the nose swab, why advise people to use it if it is not serving the intended purpose?
We are also worried that new strains of the virus can be brought into the country when borders are reopened if such test kits are not sensitive enough to positively identify infected travellers and prevent them from entering the country.
Mohideen Abdul Kader
President
Consumers Association of Penang
