KCDC Finalizes 'False Positive' Diagnosis for Gwangju Middle and High School Students with 'Positive → 4 Negative Tests'

Gwangju City "No Additional Confirmed Cases"... Yudeok Middle School and Daekwang Girls' High School Resume Normal Classes on the 15th

Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop and Gwangju Superintendent of Education Jang Hwi-guk are holding a briefing on the morning of the 14th at the city hall briefing room regarding the COVID-19 infections among middle and high school students that occurred on the 12th.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has finally ruled two middle and high school students in Gwangju, who tested ‘positive’ in the first test but ‘negative’ in four subsequent retests, as ‘false positives.’

According to Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 14th, the KDCA and the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine reviewed the testing process of the two students this afternoon and concluded that the results were ‘false positives.’

Earlier, as of midnight on the same day, the KDCA classified the two suspected COVID-19 students as Gwangju cases number 33 and 34 and registered them in the KDCA system.

The reason the KDCA classified the two students as confirmed cases was that the initial positive test sample collected on the 11th was also tested positive by both private institutions and the KDCA.

It was an unusual case that all four subsequent tests after the first positive result came back negative, prompting the KDCA to discuss the cause and future handling measures.

The ‘COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Expert Committee’ estimated that the positive result in the first test was likely due to contamination of the original specimen caused by specimen handling errors and issues during the sputum specimen testing process at the contracted testing institution on the day of the test.

Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju, said, “Students who were not infected with COVID-19 could have been mistakenly treated as confirmed cases, but through specimen collection and testing conducted four times by credible institutions such as the Gwangju Institute of Health and Environment and university hospitals, it was proven that they were ‘negative.’”

He added, “Accordingly, the two suspected students have been discharged from the hospital, and the 117 people classified as close contacts who were in self-quarantine will be released from isolation as of 6 p.m. today. All grades of Yudeok Middle School and Daekwang Girls’ High School will resume normal in-person classes starting from the 15th. As COVID-19 infections continue to spread mainly in the metropolitan area, we ask for your cooperation with preventive measures such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing in daily life.”

Meanwhile, the two students were incidentally tested ‘partially positive’ in a COVID-19 test conducted by the same private testing company.

They tested negative in the upper respiratory tract but positive in the lower respiratory tract, prompting Gwangju city and health authorities to conduct retesting at the Gwangju Institute of Health and Environment for accurate diagnosis.

Both students showed ‘negative’ results in the second test. Subsequently, to ensure certainty, testing was conducted up to the fifth test, all of which returned ‘negative’ results.

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