The government’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre said yesterday that some members of the public are not following the instructions given in the package inserts of all Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits when performing self-tests, leading to “abnormal results” or mistakenly believing that the kit was defective.
Members of the public were reminded in the statement that they are allowed to take their defective RAT kits a Health Centre or Health Post for replacements after receiving complaints of faulty kits.
The statement noted that the sampling procedures of different brands of RAT kits may vary slightly. As an example, the statement pointed out that some brands may only need three drops of the buffer solution to be dispensed into the sample well, whereas dispensing more than that may lead to abnormal results and become misinterpreted.
Users are therefore urged to read the kit’s package insert thoroughly and carry out the test accordingly, the statement underlined. Members of the public, the statement pointed out, can take defective RAT kits to their respective Health Centre of Health Post for replacements during service hours upon discovering that they are defective.
Moreover, the statement reaffirmed that everyone in Macau must take a daily self-test and declare the results at https://eservice.ssm.gov.mo/generalrat/ until July 31. Failure to do so, the statement underlined, will result in a yellow Macau Health Code at 00:00 on the following day. If it is not carried out for two consecutive days, the health code will turn red and a negative nucleic acid test (NAT) result is needed for it to turn green again.
Meanwhile, a separate statement on Sunday emphasised that for positive results, regardless of whether the person concerned also experiences a fever, respiratory symptoms or other discomfort or not, an ambulance should be called at 119, 120 or 2857 2222. The declarant and those living with them must stay at home and wait to be transferred to a quarantine facility.
