Incheon City Reviews Plans for Utilizing COVID-19 Self-Diagnostic Kits

On the 30th, Lee Gi-il, Director of Health and Medical Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is examining a COVID-19 self-test kit at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. April 30, 2021. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City announced on the 2nd that, under the direction of Mayor Park Namchun, the city and district offices will review ways to utilize COVID-19 self-diagnostic kits.

The self-diagnostic kit is a product that allows individuals to test for COVID-19 themselves and was conditionally approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety last month, now distributed in the market.

The city stated that since the daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region has been relatively stable at around 10 to 20 cases, and considering the potential confusion it could cause in quarantine measures, it does not plan to immediately introduce the self-diagnostic kits.

However, as an auxiliary measure and from the perspective of long-term response to COVID-19, the city and district offices will review ways to utilize the kits independently.

An official from Incheon City said, "Since the COVID-19 self-diagnostic kits may yield inaccurate results and should be used as an auxiliary tool, caution is necessary when incorporating them into the quarantine system," adding, "We will actively gather expert opinions and review utilization plans."

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