The Ministry of Health has begun using the PANBIO COVID-19 Ag RAPID TEST DEVICE to check vendors at markets and other people in the vicinity who may have been infected by the virus.

Samdech Techo Voluntary Youth Doctor Association (TYDA), in collaboration with the ministry, said in statement: “We used this rapid test at the Neak Meas market [in Tuol Kork district] and it gave the results back in just 15 to 30 minutes.”

Doctors from TYDA on the night of April 18 were seen busy taking samples and testing people at Neak Meas market who had direct and indirect contact with Covid-19 positive people. Of the 680 samples tested there, 60 came back positive.

Ministry of Health secretary of state York Sambath told local media that the ministry will use this kind of device in all places suspected of an outbreak in Phnom Penh and the provinces.

Health minister Mam Bun Heng had announced earlier that the rapid test device will be used in all virus hotspots in Cambodia and that the decision to use this device was based on its speed and also its effectiveness as it could produce results with a rate of accuracy similar to laboratory testing.