KDCA-Korean Society of Epidemiology Launch Nationwide Study on COVID-19 Antibody Positivity Rate Among 10,000 People

On the 11th, as the COVID-19 resurgence phase began, the screening clinic set up at Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul was crowded with citizens seeking testing. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health announced on the 12th that the Korean Society of Epidemiology has been selected as the lead research institution for the "Nationwide Large-Scale COVID-19 Antibody Positivity Rate Survey."

Previously, the quarantine authorities decided to conduct regular large-scale antibody positivity rate surveys nationwide to establish response strategies against COVID-19 epidemic risk factors and new variant viruses.

The survey, starting this month, will involve the KDCA, the Korean Society of Epidemiology, and local community-related organizations building a public-private cooperation network to test antibodies generated from natural COVID-19 infections in 10,000 residents across 17 cities and provinces nationwide. Additionally, a questionnaire will be conducted to investigate previous diagnosis history, vaccination history, and underlying health conditions.

Survey participants will be randomly selected through sampling to ensure demographic representativeness. Selected individuals will receive survey notices and explanatory documents by mail, and after obtaining their consent, specimen collection and analysis will proceed.

The National Institute of Health will use this survey to accurately determine the scale of infected and undiagnosed infected individuals and analyze risk factors by region, age, and gender. The analyzed data will be utilized to establish quarantine measures such as social distancing, predict future hospital demand (including intensive care unit bed demand), and develop efficient management plans for vulnerable groups.

Director Kwon Jun-wook of the National Institute of Health stated, "As the spread of new COVID-19 variants is increasing, this survey will enable an accurate understanding of the infection scale within communities," and added, "Since the results will be useful for establishing quarantine measures against variants, we ask those selected as participants to actively cooperate and participate."

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