Stay updated with breaking news from Kim schive. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
25 Jan 2021 / 18:37 H. THE reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been the golden standard for Covid-19 testing, but there have been some concerns on using RT-PCR with a high-cycle protocol which could be giving false-positive results. Even if this proves to be the case for RT-PCR machines, the overall impact of false positives is likely to be minimal given Malaysia’s epidemiological status and the overall practice of our health authorities in managing Covid-19. To understand what this is about let’s have a look into some basic concepts on how RT-PCR works. Viruses carry in them genetic material in the form of sequences that are unique to it which we could use for identification. In general, PCR amplifies (or replicates) specific parts of a viral gene sequence (target genes). It replicates these target gene sequences in “cycles” whereby after each cycle, the number of gene replicates increase exponentially. ....