SINGAPORE – Distributors here are confident that they are able to meet the rising demand for antigen rapid test (ART) kits, with months’ worth of stock in warehouses and shipments coming in every week to meet the surge in orders.

This follows the rush for ART kits in many pharmacy retailers whose shelves remain empty after consumers snapped up almost every available kit earlier this week.

Ms Jes Lim, managing director of SPD Scientific, which supplies the SD Biosensor test kits, told The Straits Times that its warehouses can hold some 20 million test kits at a time. She added that orders have increased threefold and that it receives a few million kits each week.

“There is a healthy and sufficient supply of ART kits to cater for the increase in demand,” said Ms Lim on Wednesday (Sept 22).

“The current order size can be adjusted at any time, even up to millions if necessary.”

Since May, the company has had an agreement with the South Korean manufacturers for larger shipments that can be delivered in a week’s notice.

Its product, SD Biosensor, is one of six brands of self-test ART kits that are authorised by the Health Sciences Authority.

The company provides kits to retailers, corporations like those in construction and food & beverage, and to households as part of the Government’s initiative to give test kits to all residences.

The spokesman for Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), which supplies the BD Veritor self-test kits, told ST it is able to meet the demands of all orders.

Going by the current demand, the company holds a few months’ worth of test kits, which are stored in a temperature-controlled facility in Singapore.

He said: “We can mobilise shipments very quickly as our supply chain is agile and, currently, we have no concerns about the current supply and demand situation with our partners.”

The test kits have a limited shelf life of several months and orders had to be timed carefully to ensure they are used, said the spokesman.

He said demand has been rising in line with Singapore’s approach to increase the use of ART to rapidly detect cases in the community.

Its kits are currently being used at several venues including borders, dormitories, hospitals and GP clinics. They were also used in many schools duringthe recent test kit distribution after the September holidays.

Mr Wayne Yap, the director of pharmaceutical company Unison Collaborative, said the company, which distributes Abbott Panbio test kits, is receiving weekly shipments to meet orders from its customers, such as retailers and corporate buyers in construction, food and beverage, and logistics.

On Monday, pharmacy retailers Guardian and Watsons said demand had risen five times compared to previous weeks and they were in the midst of bringing in more stock.

A Guardian spokesman said on Wednesday that more supplies were coming in this week and the next. “Our store team members are actively replenishing stocks as the supply comes in,” she said.

Ms Lim assured buyers there was ongoing and consistent supplies, and it was just a matter of bringing stock from the warehouses to the shops.

The company will continue to work closely with the relevant ministries on their initiatives and directives to ensure stock availability, she said.

Speaking at the Singaporean Researchers Global Summit at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore’s director of medical services Kenneth Mak said on Monday: “We actually have a lot of test kits, but I think it’s just an issue of supply, distribution and allocation.”

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