Gwangju Health and Environment Research Institute Successfully Isolates COVID-19 Virus

First Among 17 Provinces...Promoting Research on Regional Patient Characteristics and More

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Gwangju Metropolitan City Health and Environment Research Institute announced on the 19th that it has succeeded in isolating the causative virus of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) from respiratory specimens of COVID-19 patients in the Gwangju area.

Previously, the city’s Health and Environment Research Institute attempted virus isolation from 28 patient specimens and confirmed virus proliferation in 10 specimens. Among these, genome analysis using next generation sequencing (NGS) was performed on 5 specimens, confirming the virus as COVID-19.

So far, Gwangju is the only local government among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide to have successfully isolated the causative virus of COVID-19. The isolated virus will be used to study characteristics of patients by region.

Additionally, further analysis will be conducted to determine genetic mutations by comparing the isolated strains domestically and internationally, and research results will be shared with related organizations such as the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency to be used as data for vaccine candidate development.

The city’s Health and Environment Research Institute established a laboratory response enhancement plan (phases 1 to 3) to respond to the infectious disease crisis since the first domestic COVID-19 patient occurred in January, building a system capable of testing within 6 hours and conducting about 10,300 tests.

In preparation for a second wave, the institute is reviewing the COVID-19 diagnostic system, recruiting infectious disease specialists early, and establishing a fourth plan to supplement equipment to enable more than 250 tests per day.

Jung Jae-geun, head of the Infectious Disease Research Department, said, “Isolation and securing of the causative virus of new infectious diseases like COVID-19 is an essential process for diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine development.” He added, “Virus isolation is meaningful as it can be used as basic data not only for analyzing patient characteristics by region but also for vaccine development.”

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