By Bahk Eun-ji
Health authorities said Monday that a coronavirus testing kit that can produce results in about one hour.
Pharmaceutical companies including Seasun Biometerials also announced that they plan to apply for emergency use authorization from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) early next month. The KCDC will accept applications for the COVID-19 test kit for emergency use from Jun 1 to 5 and review the plan to allow doctors to use them.
Current test kits take nearly 6 hours to produce results. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already granted separate emergency use authorization for the test kit developed by Seasun at the end of April. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing kits will be used for patients requiring emergency operations or in cases of emergency childbirth, the KCDC said.
While health authorities remain on alert over further community spread tied to entertainment facilities ahead of the expanded opening of schools, the daily increase in virus cases fell below 20 at the weekend.
The KCDC reported 16 new infections Sunday, bringing the total to 11,206. Of them, 13 were local infections. The number of cases tied to bars and clubs in Itaewon reached 233 the same day. The country reported one more virus fatality, raising the death toll to 267.
Although the government believes the club-linked infections are under control, caution still needs to be taken by the public as undetected transmission routes that could lead to the further spread of the virus, according to health authorities. Korea continued to see secondary and tertiary infections linked to the Itaewon outbreak in recent weeks.
To prevent the further spread of the virus, the health authorities said they will also reinforce prevention guidelines in regard to the use of public transportation.
Wearing face masks will be mandatory for all bus and taxi drivers across the country starting Tuesday. The transport ministry said that people who do not wear masks will not be permitted to get on buses or take taxis. It will enforce a rule that will allow bus and taxi drivers to refuse passengers not wearing masks.
Also, all air passengers will be required to wear face masks on board regardless of their destination from Wednesday, the ministry said.
The previous day, the government announced that it will require entertainment establishments such as clubs and bars with high infection risks to keep quick QR code-based customer logs starting next month, in an efforts to reduce errors in contact-tracing caused by people giving false information.
