43,462 clinical samples taken for testing so far - Health DG

Of those, 2,908 samples tested positive, 32,894 turned out negative while 7,660 samples are pending results, he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH is capable of handling 11,500 tests daily, now that 48 of its laboratories are working together with those from public and private higher learning institutions, the Malaysia Genome Institute (MGI), Institute For Medical Research (IMR) and Malaysian Armed Forces hospitals.

He said the MOH was also conducting tests on the rapid antigen test kits from South Korea, adding that if the accuracy level to locate COVID-19 is found to be high, the ministry will then order 200,000 units.

Dr Noor Hisham said with those kits, clinical samples need not be sent for laboratory testing any longer.

"Testing can be done at the clinics or hospitals and they would only require biosafety cabinets, so with these test kits from Korea, we would be able to obtain results much faster," he said at the ministry's COVID-19 daily briefing here today.