By BERNAMA / Pic by BERNAMA

THE Health Ministry has reiterated that those who test positive for Covid-19 and have completed quarantine need not undergo further Covid-19 testing. 

Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said ultra-sensitive test methods such as Real-Time Reverse TranscriptionPolymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) will still be able to detect the presence of viral genetic material in respiratory tract samples up to two to three months after infection. 

“During the viral shedding period, for example. However, the virus is no longer able to reproduce and the individual is unlikely to be able to spread the infection,” he said in a statement on Saturday. 

Dr Noor Hisham also said that the Covid-19 Antigen Rapid Test Kit (RTK-Ag), both the self-test and professional types, can detect infection from the third to the seventh day of exposure to those already infected with Covid-19. 

He said RT-PCR tests can also detect infection as early as the second to 14th day after infection, and as such, the accuracy of both types of tests depends on the duration of infection at the time the sample was taken. 

“The use of RTK-Ag is recommended to individuals who are symptomatic or are in a high-risk group and asymptomatic. — Bernama