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Laboratory Testing

The reagents for identification of COVID-19 arrived at our laboratory on 21 Jan 2020. At the
same time, Prof. Dr. Jamal from University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) had provided
inactivated positive control (which belongs to the same family) as positive control for the
tests. The positive control was SARS-CoV-1 which shared 85% similarities with SARS-
CoV-2.

The officers from IMR had then successfully optimized the real time RT-PCR for the
detection of COVID-19 by 22 January 2020. We had a confirmed case from China who
entered Singapore and then proceeded to travel to Malaysia. We were able to provide the
reagents to MKAK (National Public Health Laboratory), Sungai Buloh to test contacts of a
confirmed case in Singapore on 25 January 2020.
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