By Nadiah Zamlus
SHAH ALAM, Feb 18 — A total of 10,000 free Covid-19 screening supported by the Selangor government have been administered to the people in the state since January this year.
State executive councillor for public health Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said the state administration had aimed to have 50,000 individuals screened throughout the year which involves a total cost of RM6 million.
She said the initiative will be carried out until the daily estimated infectivity rate (Rt) or R-naught (R0) in the country drops.
“The more testing is done, the higher the number of cases. But the public should not panic as the positive rate of infection is low.
“Because Selangor has an estimated population of 6.7 million, it explains the high figure compared to other states. Even so, we are committed to executing the community screening initiative to curb the spread of Covid-19,” said Dr Siti Mariah after visiting the free Covid-19 community screening programme held at the Pandamaran Jaya multipurpose hall in Port Klang, today.
She said aside from community testing operation, targetted screening is also carried out at old folks’ homes that are both registered and unregistered.
“After that, we will be focusing at dialysis centres,” she added.
Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari had through the Kita Selangor Package revealed a RM6 million allocation for free Covid-19 screening programmes that would benefit 50,000 people in the state.
The initiative is aimed towards targetted groups such as the senior citizens, especially those at nursing homes, as well as those from the underprivileged groups and students.
