KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 11): The Ministry of Health (MOH) plans to deploy breathalysers and implement routine testing in sectors and activities viewed as high-risk for Covid-19.

Citing Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as saying to the health, science and innovation special select parliament committee in a meeting on Sept 14, CodeBlue, which reports issues and policies related to healthcare in Malaysia and around the world, said the government would consider using breathalysers at several gateways, for social events, and at schools.

In a report on Wednesday (Nov 10), it added that Khairy said this during a discussion with the committee on the effectiveness of various test kits and tools used to detect Covid-19 in individuals.

Meanwhile, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who was also present during the meeting, said RTK antigen test kits approved by the MOH's Medical Device Authority had an accuracy of over 90%.

"We are very happy with it, but the best breath analyser is about 98%. Nanyang Technological University and IMR (Institute for Medical Research) have done the study and now they are using it in Singapore Changi Airport.

"So, we have two brands that have been submitted. We are doing the evaluation and hopefully, the breath analyser can be part of it as well," Dr Noor Hisham told the committee.

CodeBlue said transcripts of the Sept 14 meeting were published in the special committee's "Transitioning from Pandemic to Endemic Covid-19 Safely and Sustainably" report tabled in Parliament on Nov 1.

Commenting on the National Testing Strategy, Khairy said the initial planning of the testing strategy includes testing for Covid-19 for certain high-risk activities, such as conventions and conferences, as well as rostering testing for certain sectors like construction and manufacturing.

"There will be a scheduled or regular rostered testing for certain sectors. So, sectors like construction, sectors like manufacturing... we'll do rostered testing, trying to work out cost implication — who's paying for it, employers pay for it or the government subsidises it? So these are all the thoughts that have been put into place," Khairy said.

Khairy said there is a possibility of making testing a requirement in school settings, especially for students and staff returning to boarding schools and universities. He said the idea is to test "at the point of going back, five days after, 14 days after" as well as some routine testing.

On Covid-19 tests in the industrial sector, Khairy noted that most major companies, including multinationals, are "very good" at compliance compared to smaller companies.