Singapore – Vlogger Nuseir Yassin tackled the topic of Covid-19 testing in his latest video, and it did not sit well among members of the online community, with some commenting that the content was “completely irresponsible and misleading.”
On Saturday (April 11), Nuseir, in his platform called Nas Daily, answered the question, “Why (Covid-19) tests are a problem.”
“It’s hard to avoid it by now, we are in a pandemic, and we don’t have enough tests,” Nas began. And for those who “were lucky enough to get tested,” the results take forever, said Nas. “There is no better way to say it, we need to test more; we need to test faster.”
He featured a rapid test, designed like a pregnancy test, which could give results in 10 minutes or less using blood samples. The test is able to detect if an individual is Covid-19 positive or had the virus in the past, based on antibodies.
Nas added the disclaimer that the particular antibodies test is “not a solution to coronavirus” as it is 95 per cent accurate. “This is not supposed to replace lab tests, but to complement them,” said Nas.
According to the video, rapid tests were recently approved in China, the Philippines, Europe and “hopefully soon in the US.” The kit featured in the video was created by Singapore-listed Biolidics diagnostics company which is the process of completing the listing of the Covid-19 kits before they can be distributed and sold in the market, reported straitstimes.com. The rapid test kits are currently permitted for use only by clinical laboratories and doctor’s offices and not for home testing.
For those wondering, Nas’ test results came back negative.
Members from the online community were quick to comment at the “misleading” and “inaccurate” information portrayed in the video regarding the rapid tests.
“Frankly, I’d rather have you stay out of this topic, Nas,” said Yuki Dy. “These rapid test kits are hit and miss. Have benefits and drawbacks,” added the netizen who said that the video may have been well intended but could lead to more harm than good. Vance Tan commented that Nas shouldn’t be promoting any product which is not yet fully proven as he is not a doctor or a medical professional.
Others pointed out the inaccuracy of the test kits that could give results in a few minutes, stating that it could lead to a false positive or negative. “The current guidelines in Singapore is to do the PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) test that is out in 3-6 hours,” said June Koh.
Meanwhile, Brittany Bollinger wondered why Nas took the test when he had no symptoms, and he mentioned in the video that there is a shortage of test kits. Nas replied that such kits are not in limited supply and are currently waiting for approval from various countries. “A total of one test was used so that we can make a video and illustrate the importance of tests to 10 million people,” said Nas. “I would say that is fair.”
https://www.facebook.com/nasdaily/videos/vb.574719552680201/319028135734588/?type=2&theater
Read related:
http://theindependent.sg/netizens-receive-the-wrong-message-from-latest-nasdaily-covid-19-video/