Health Authorities: "Confirmed Diagnosis Based Solely on Professional Rapid Antigen Tests... Plan to Be Announced This Week"

COVID-19 Living Support Fund, National Subsidy Grant Provided

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] The COVID-19 testing system will be reorganized to allow confirmed diagnosis and early treatment based solely on professional rapid antigen tests.

On the 7th, Jeong Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), stated at a regular briefing, "To enable rapid diagnosis and treatment, we are preparing a plan to classify patients as infectious disease cases based on positive results from professional rapid antigen tests, allowing for early prescription and treatment." Currently, even if the professional or self-test rapid antigen test is positive, confirmation requires a positive result from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

Commissioner Jeong added, "Currently, the positivity rate of tests has risen significantly, and the accuracy of rapid antigen tests, especially professional rapid antigen tests, is very high with a very low false positive rate." She continued, "We are in consultation with local governments and the medical community, and plan to conclude these discussions this week and announce the implementation plan during the week."

With daily new confirmed cases exceeding 200,000, the capacity for PCR testing is reaching its limit. On the 1st, the total number of PCR tests reached 1,068,586. The originally stated maximum PCR testing capacity by health authorities is about 850,000 tests per day. Exceeding this capacity results in the time from testing to confirmation notification exceeding 24 hours. This delay in COVID-19 confirmation, which can take 2 to 3 days, has drawn criticism for hindering rapid treatment after symptom onset.

Commissioner Jeong explained, "Currently, PCR testing is conducted at 850,000 tests per day, and up to 1,050,000 tests on busy days, causing delays in notifying results after testing, which is a concern." She added, "Efforts are underway to improve PCR testing efficiency, including the recent suspension of issuing negative certificates."

Regarding the depletion of local governments' COVID-19 living support fund budgets due to the large scale of the outbreak, she stated, "Once local governments complete their grant applications, we will promptly allocate national subsidies using the additional budget secured through the supplementary budget." The KDCA secured 1.1415 trillion KRW for living support funds in the supplementary budget earlier this month.

Commissioner Jeong explained, "Since the national subsidy rate for living support funds is 50%, if local government budgets for the remaining 50% are not secured, budget shortages may occur." She added, "We will take measures to prioritize the disbursement of national funds even before local funds are secured."

Additionally, in response to requests from local governments to increase the national matching ratio, she said, "We will review the possibility of adjusting the criteria in consultation with financial authorities and local governments."

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