The National Health Security Office (NHSO) is urging people who have received an antigen test kit (ATK) from the government to report their results as soon as possible, in order to help detect infections and prevent new Covid-19 clusters from forming.
NHSO secretary-general, Jadej Thammatacharee, said since the government began distributing free ATKs last Thursday, only 7% out of the 74,674 people who have received a kit have reported their results -- of whom 80 people tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr Jadej also urged more pharmacies to take part in the programme, before adding that the NHSO will soon add medical laboratories to the list of locations where people can pick up a free Covid-19 test kit.
Yupadee Sirisinsuk, deputy secretary-general of the NHSO, said the rollout of free ATKs was timed to coincide with the reopening of restaurants and other businesses, in order to allow employers to act quickly to limit the spread of the virus in their operations.
Those whose kits returned a positive reading can choose to isolate at home, where they would be supervised by staff from the nearest health office and volunteers.
According to Asst Prof Yupadee, Bangkok will be allocated 2.26 million kits, which are to be rolled out via health service centres and pharmacies.
At-risk individuals can register to receive free ATks via the Pao Tang e-wallet app. They can then pick up the kits at the nearest convenient location or have them delivered.
Meanwhile, those without smart phones will be offered free ATKs if they are ascertained to be at risk of Covid-19 infection by health volunteers.