Self COVID-19 testing by saliva with Sejoy SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid test kit

There will be occasions that you need to do a COVID-19 self-test, to ensure that you are free from COVID-19 infection, before you attend certain events or enter into certain premises.

There are generally 4 types of COVID-19 self-testing kit available in the market now:

• Nasal swab specimen test
• Mouth swab specimen test
• Nasal + mouth swab specimens test
• Saliva specimen test

Among them, I find the saliva specimen test type is the easiest to use, cheapest to buy, and does not cause any discomfort during specimen collection.

You can get the Sejoy SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid test kit at a price of slightly below RM5 per box (for single test) in Mr. DIY, 99 Speedmart, pharmacies, online e-commerce stores, and some other places.

A brief instruction on how to use it is printed at the back of its packaging box.

There is also detailed instruction printed on a large piece of paper inside the box.

Here are the steps to use it:

• Do not eat or smoke or drink anything other than plain water at least 30 minutes before the test.
• Wash your mouth with plain water.
• Use a knife or scissor to unseal the box by breaking its "QC Passed" sealing sticker.
• Take out its content.
• Assemble the saliva collection funnel kit on top of the extraction tube.
• Collect your saliva into the extraction tube until the saliva is slightly on top of the level mark you can see near the bottom of the extraction tube.
• Remove the saliva collection funnel kit and put it inside the biohazard waste bag.
• Put the extraction tube into the hole at the back of the packaging box, so that it won't fall down.
• Unseal the extraction reagent bag.
• Drop all the extraction reagent liquid into the extraction tube by squeezing on its bag.
• Cover up the extraction tube with its attached stopper.
• Mix your saliva with the extraction reagent by shaking the extraction tube for about 1 minute.
• Take out the test cassette from its aluminum foil pouch.
• Drop 2 drops of the mixture in the extraction tube by squeezing the tube on top of the "S" area on the test cassette.
• You will see the liquid slowly moving from one end of the test paper to the other end. The paper will become purple in colour during the movement, and will change back to white after the movement.
• The test result should be ready in 15-20 minutes.

• The control line at "C" position should appear, otherwise the test is not successful, and you will need to redo the test again with a new test kit.
• If you see another line at "T" position, your test result is COVID-19 positive. If there is no line at "T" position, congratulations, your test result is COVID-19 negative.
• After the test, insert everything (except the large instruction paper) into the biohazrd waste bag, seal it before disposal.

After using the COVID-19 self-testing kit, you are required to report the test result in MySejahtera app regardless your test result is positive or negative.

• Open up MySejahtera app in your mobile device.
• Tap on the "Close" button to close the front page.
• Tap on the "COVID-19 Self Test" icon.
• Select "Update Self-Test Result".
• Continue to follow the on-screen instructions to complete your reporting.

The COVID-19 self-testing kit is labelled with manufacturing lot number, year and month of manufacture, and also the year and month of expiry. At first I thought I'd need to key-in these information in the report, but it ends up I just need to report on whether my test result is positive or negative.

If you are tested COVID-19 positive, then you should reconfirm by taking another test with a new test kit.

If both the tests are showing COVID-19 positive, please isolate yourself immediately, and contact MOH immediately. You can click here to get the MOH COVID-19 hotline contacts.

My DEOcross C-ears electric earwax cleaner

If you have family member(s) who loves to pick ears using the traditional earwax rod or even cotton rod, here is a better and safer gadget for them.

This DEOcross C-ears electric earwax cleaner only cost me around RM15.

It operates with an AAA alkaline battery, and works by vibrating and vacuuming the ear wax out into its nozzle.

Here is the content inside the packing box:

• Transparent plastic casing
• The main body
• 2x removable nozzles
• Cleaning brush
• AAA alkaline battery

On its body, there is only one button to turn it on and off.

Its removable nozzle is soft, with a length of 2.5cm which is safe to use for ordinary human inner ear.

After use, you can detach the nozzle and clean it with water.

There is a filter at the main body's head to prevent the vacuumed earwax from entering into the main body. It is also removable and can be washed with water.

The only complaint I have with this gadget is that, its battery compartment cap is pretty loose and easy to drop off. I use a piece of cellophane tape to stick the cap firmly to its body.

My portable ultrasonic turbine mini washer

Other than my CCKO CK9919 stainless steel smart garbage bin, I have also purchased a portable ultrasonic turbine mini washer at the price of slightly above RM40, during the recent 11.11 big sale promotion festival. It is mainly used to wash the mopping cloth of my Roborock S7 robot cleaner.

Inside the packaging box, there are:

• The round washer unit with 9cm diameter, which can be put inside water.
• USB cable with a controller unit in the middle. The controller unit cannot be put inside water.
• USB traveler wall charger, also cannot be put inside water.

Some similar products come with a water bucket. The water bucket can even be foldable to save storage space and to make it easier for carrying along. However, those units with attached water bucket can easily cost double the price than this one.

As you can buy a bucket at the price of a few ringgit only, I think this unit without bucket is good enough, and it has a much better cost-performance ratio.

There are 3 suction cups under the unit. You can stick it at the bottom of a water bucket, or at the inner wall of the water bucket, or inside a basin, or inside any suitable water container.

This mini washer is designed to wash up to 1kg load of clothes, which is more than enough to wash my robot's mopping cloth.

It has 4 modes of operation, controlled by its controller:

• Mode A: cycles of 2 minutes forward and reverse spinning + 1.5 minutes of ultrasonic cleaning + 5 minutes of bubble cleaning
• Mode B: forward and reverse spinning
• Mode C: ultrasonic cleaning
• Mode D: bubble cleaning

Its forward and reverse spinning action will produce a swirl in the water, to clean up the clothes inside, similar to the way of how ordinary washing machine functions.

When the washing is finished, you can switch off its electricity power at the wall socket to turn it off. Otherwise, it will automatically turn off itself after 30 minutes of operation.

See it in action in the video below:

I find it to be a very good companion for any robot cleaners with mopping function. You can wash several mopping clothes together at one go with it.