The government’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre urged members of the public in a statement yesterday to read and follow the instructions of the rapid antigen test (RAT) kits before using them as the operational procedures may vary slightly between different brands.
The statement noted that those in need at home, such as the elderly, should be assisted by someone to declare their test results on the “Macau Health Code”
Everyone in Macau, the statement underlined, must take one more RAT today in response to the city’s COVID-19 outbreak. Members of the public were also required to take the test yesterday. Various brands of RAT kits, all of which are nasal swabs approved for import by the Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau (ISAF), were previously distributed, the statement pointed out.
Further information on procedures, test result declaration and usage notes can be found at https://www.ssm.gov.mo/apps1/covidagtest/ch.aspx#clg21987, while RAT results can be declared at https://app.ssm.gov.mo/generalrat/, which can also be found on the bottom of the Macau Health Code’s home page.
Meanwhile, false positive results may come up when conducting the RAT test right after having the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, the centre suggested that residents complete the test before getting vaccinated. The self-test is also “less sensitive to previous infection”, the statement said, meaning that those who have recovered from being previously infected with COVID-19 will have negative RAT results.
This image provided by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre yesterday shows the COVID-19 RATs.
