MACAU, July 25 - The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre indicates that citizens may bring their defective RAT kits their corresponding health centre or health station for replacement today (25 July); however, it is found that some citizens have not followed the procedures in the instructions of the test kit when performing the rapid antigen test, which led to abnormal results or mistakenly belief that the kit is defective.

Therefore, members of the public are reminded that the sampling procedures of RAT test kits may vary slightly from one brand to another. For example, certain brands of RAT test kits only require 3 drops of buffer solution, dispensing more than 3 drops of solution into the sample well may result in abnormal results, and therefore, causing misinterpretation of results. For this, users are advised to read the kit instructions thoroughly before use, and carry out the test accordingly.

The Centre reiterates that, upon discovery of a defective RAT kit, citizens may bring such kit to their corresponding health centre or health station for replacement during service hours. At the same time, all people in Macao are required to take a RAT and declare the result every day from 24 to 31 July; otherwise, the health code will be changed to a yellow code at 00:00 on the following day; if RAT is not carried out for two consecutive days, the health code will be turned into a red code, a nucleic acid test with negative result will be required to restore a green health code.