Singapore Sees Global Shortage of Virus Testing Kits, Materials

(Bloomberg) --

Singapore, which is looking to increase virus testing fivefold among its population, faces a global shortage of some test kits and materials, according to its health minister.

The city-state has to be “mindful” there's a worldwide shortage, and therefore “we have to ensure that we have a continued supply and stock of these materials to allow us to continue and sustain this high level of testing,” Gan Kim Yong, who also co-chairs a taskforce set up to fight the virus, said in Parliament on Monday. Gan earlier said the country is seeking to increase its testing capacity to up to 40,000 a day by later this year, compared to the current 8,000 tests a day.

“I won't be able to promise you when, but we are doing our best to ramp it up,” Gan said.

Singapore reported a further 573 infections on Monday, bringing the country's total to more than 18,000 cases, among the highest in the Asia-Pacific region. Of the cumulative figure, the majority are linked to foreign worker dormitories where more than 300,000 laborers live. As businesses in the Southeast Asian nation look to reopen, a nationwide testing strategy is being developed, marking a further tightening in the stance of a country that until now has relied more on methodical contact tracing.

There's no plan to test all foreign workers, and testing is done in “very targeted” way in the dormitories to establish the baseline level of infection in each facility so authorities are able to make strategies on how to respond, according to Gan. He added the government is also looking to test more essential workers as businesses reopen. These workers would need to be tested repeatedly as they will be continually exposed in the community, he said.

Singapore will need to look at how it can source more test kits through manufacturing locally or procuring internationally, he said. It's also looking at sourcing raw materials such as reagents that are needed as part of the test kits. Beyond the hardware, there are also manpower constraints as people are needed to do the tests, and document and record them, Gan said.