This photo provided by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) shows a laboratory for disease diagnosis and gene sequencing at the KDCA in Osong, some 100 kilometers south of Seoul.
OSONG, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — In case of an outbreak of an unidentified virus, the swift diagnosis of the virus is a key step for health authorities to control the disease from the initial stage.
The novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, then quickly spread worldwide and resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on, South Korea was hailed as one of the leading nations that promptly brought the virus under control.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that it was fortunate to check its diagnostic testing capabilities for infectious diseases and be fully ready for the system right before the first outbreak and then face the unprecedented pandemic, which has lasted nearly three years.
“We experienced a public health crisis from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the past and learned the importance of virus diagnosis,” said Yoo Cheon-kwon, director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Diagnosis Control in the KDCA, told reporters on Tuesday.
“So we carried out a trial test to make our diagnostics program ready for a possible influenza or coronavirus in late 2019.”
A laboratory for disease diagnosis and gene sequencing at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) in Osong, some 100 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
The mock disaster exercise took place on Dec. 17, 2019. It was aimed at reviewing the KDCA’s emergency response routines and procedures, especially its disease diagnostics scheme, against a possible influx of an unidentified virus from China.
About two weeks later, China reported the first coronavirus case, and the KDCA operated a taskforce to diagnose the highly infectious virus in advance as it practiced in the trial test.
The taskforce played a decisive role in detecting and diagnosing the virus when South Korea reported the first COVID-19 patient on Jan. 20, 2020.
“It takes time to draw out programs to spot a certain virus, but we had our diagnostics for all coronaviruses after the exercise when COVID-19 started to spread,” said Kim Eun-jin from the Division of Emerging Infectious Diseases. “It worked from the beginning.”
The KDCA unveiled its high security laboratory that conducts exotic disease diagnosis, certification and gene sequencing.
The lab tested the country’s first COVID-19 infection some three years ago, when the country was not ready to deploy a nationwide virus testing system.
Currently, normal virus tests are conducted at public health centers or local hospitals, while the KDCA lab focuses on detailed classification and observation through gene sequencing and observation of variants’ characteristics.
A laboratory for disease diagnosis and gene sequencing at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) in Osong, some 100 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
At the lab, researchers extract nucleic acid from a specimen of an infected individual and add drops of reagent to the extract. And they put the mixture of nucleic acid and reagent into a machine that conducts gene sequencing.
The KDCA said it has seven gene sequencing machines, the most in the country, and one of the biggest pieces of equipment can process 400 samples at a time.
It noted that the lab is the only place in Korea to verify and confirm variants and mutations of COVID-19.
“As new variants continue to emerge, it is important for us to review the outcomes from here and come up with effective measures to quickly adapt to the new virus,” said Kim.
“This lab has served as a watchman that analyzes the coronavirus and detects a future virus since the outbreak.”
Since the first COVID-19 case was reported in South Korea, a cumulative 25.2 million people had been infected with the virus as of Thursday, with nearly 29,000 people dead.
In 2020, as part of the Seoul government’s strategy for a better state response to a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, the KDCA was promoted to an independent administrative organization from a disease control center under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
(Yonhap)
