Promoting K-Quarantine Worldwide... Advancing International Standards

by Choi Daeyul

Published 26 Apr.2020 22:59(KST)

Updated 23 Jan.2025 08:12(KST)

Last month, at the COVID-19 drive-through testing site set up at the Hampstead Rehabilitation Center in Adelaide, Australia, a nurse is collecting a sample from the driver of a visiting vehicle. <이미지:연합뉴스>

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[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The government has decided to promote the international standardization of the quarantine model to share the measures taken by our quarantine authorities in response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) with the world.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 26th that they will collectively name these measures the 'K-Quarantine Model' and propose them as international standards. They plan to systematize the procedures and techniques covering the entire infectious disease response process and submit them as agenda items to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The decision will be made after expert discussions. The model proposed by our government includes the automobile-based (drive-through) and pedestrian-based (walk-through) screening clinic tests and operational procedures, the operation model of residential treatment centers mainly for mild patients to monitor symptoms, and applications for managing self-quarantined individuals.

The diagnostic technique, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), is scheduled to be established as a standard in November. The drive-through method submitted a new standard proposal on the 7th. The consultative body plans to closely cooperate with the 'COVID-19 Response International Quarantine Cooperation General Task Force (TF),' led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and involving multiple ministries, to promote the spread of the K-Quarantine Model.

Seong Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "The international standardization of the K-Quarantine Model will not only elevate our country's status worldwide but also serve as an important opportunity to lead the global market in the bio-industry, which is a future growth engine."