Health Authorities: "17-Year-Old Death Case 'Undecided' Due to Temporary Contamination... Yeungnam University Resumes Testing"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Regarding the 17-year-old high school student who died from pneumonia symptoms and showed an 'indeterminate' result in the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) test conducted at Yeungnam University Hospital in Daegu during his lifetime, the quarantine authorities revealed that there was some contamination in the test.

Lee Sang-won, head of the Diagnostic Test Management Team at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said at a regular briefing held on the 21st at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in Osong, Chungbuk, "The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Diagnostic Test Management Committee conducted on-site inspections and environmental evaluations, rechecked the testing location and equipment at Yeungnam University Hospital, confirmed the removal of contamination, and judged that testing could resume, notifying Yeungnam University Hospital accordingly." He explained, "Both the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and Yeungnam University Hospital shared the same view on this matter."

Kwon Jun-wook, deputy head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH), added, "After focusing on whether there were any issues with other tests at Yeungnam University Hospital, no other problems were found, and it was confirmed that there was no possibility of other contamination within the laboratory."

When asked why contamination occurred in the specific test, Deputy Head Kwon said, "Errors or mistakes can sufficiently occur during the testing or experimental process," emphasizing, "(Such contamination) is not systematic or structured. Since routine monitoring of testing institutions is conducted frequently, the reliability of tests is maintained at a high level."

Previously, Mr. A underwent a total of 13 COVID-19 tests at Yeungnam University Hospital. The 12 tests conducted until the day before his death were consistently negative, but on the day of his death, genetic tests on urine and sputum showed an 'indeterminate' result with some positive findings.

After the quarantine authorities received Mr. A’s specimens from Yeungnam University Hospital and reanalyzed them, no COVID-19 virus was detected in the specimens. Rather, genetic amplification (RT-PCR) reactions were confirmed even in control specimens that did not contain any patient samples. Accordingly, the authorities pointed out the possibility of contamination in the Yeungnam University Hospital laboratory and temporarily suspended testing at Yeungnam University Hospital starting from the 19th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.