Gyeonggi Province Conducts Twice-Weekly Universal COVID-19 Testing for Elderly Care Facility Workers

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] To prevent the spread of COVID-19 cluster infections, Gyeonggi Province will expand universal testing for elderly care facility workers from once a week to twice a week until March 31.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 13th, the province has been conducting weekly PCR (polymerase chain reaction) diagnostic tests on facility workers since last month, and it has decided to additionally conduct rapid antigen tests for preemptive infection prevention.

Elderly care facilities are facilities that care for the elderly with long-term care grades of level 2 or higher, and currently 31,577 workers are employed at 1,193 facilities across the province.

These are places with a high risk of transmission and a high rate of progression to severe illness if outside workers become infected with COVID-19.

Although rapid antigen testing is somewhat less accurate than the existing PCR (polymerase chain reaction) method, it has the advantage of requiring only 15 to 20 minutes from specimen collection to confirmation of results, greatly reducing testing time compared to the PCR method, which takes about 3 to 6 hours, and enabling rapid preventive measures.

The tests will utilize 300,000 diagnostic kits donated on the 7th by SD Biosensor, a Suwon-based specialist research and development company for in-vitro diagnostic kits.

These diagnostic kits received emergency use approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) in September last year, and in November last year became the first in the country to receive official approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The tests will be carried out by the facility's own nursing staff who have received training from public health centers, and if the test results are positive, the case will be immediately reported to the public health center, the person will be moved to a positive-case isolation space or an independent space, and after isolation, an additional PCR test will be conducted.

Lee Byung-woo, Director of Welfare for Gyeonggi Province, said, “To prevent COVID-19 cluster infections, the best method is separation and preventive measures through the early detection of confirmed cases,” adding, “This testing can be a preemptive measure that protects many people beyond the residents and workers of elderly care facilities. We ask for the active cooperation of cities, counties, and facility officials.”