While the jury is still out if the proposed ceiling price set for Covid-19 test kits by the Domestic Trade ministry at RM19.90 is affordable or expensive, the Selangor state government will be distributing 60,000 saliva-based Covid-19 self-test kits for free to family members of those who had contracted the coronavirus.
This pro-active measure will surely will helping mitigating potential cases that might not be detected before its too late, state executive councillor for public health Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said the self-test kits would be distributed mainly to the low-income families who otherwise could not afford to visit clinics or would not know if a sick member of the family has Covid-19 or just a normal fever.
Selangor has constantly been advocating on proactive measures by using its FTTIS (find, test, trace, isolate and support) approach, in accordance with the recommendations made by the World Health Organisation, which mostly went ignored by the Federal Government but opted for the less effective methods of containment and contact tracing.
Under the new MOH program, those who have been tested positive can undergo home quarantine and only progress to hospitalisation if the symptoms get severe.
As nations move the Covid-19 situation from pandemic to endemic, the way to manage the virus is to accept that we have to live this bug and conduct ourselves accordingly to ensure we don’t become a carrier or get infected with it. Selangor has already vaccinated over 60% of its adult population and is on track towards herd immunity, if the state and the country aims to free itself from the current restraint, vaccination will be the only way!.
