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A PCR (genome amplification) reagent that can identify Omicron mutations has been developed in Korea, so that it is possible to check whether or not Omicron has been infected within 3 to 4 hours after being confirmed with COVID-19.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today (24th) that "We have developed a PCR reagent for rapid confirmation of omicron mutations promoted through public-private cooperation."
The quarantine authorities have supported reagent manufacturers by forming a private expert advisory committee to introduce PCR reagents for Omicron within this year.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced that it has selected products that can be used in the field after evaluating the effectiveness of products from five manufacturers and discussing them with the advisory committee.
Kim Eun-jin, head of the inspection and analysis team at the Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters (Bangdaebon) explained, "The performance of the product was good, so both the negative and positive concordance rates were 100%."
Selected PCR reagents are developed for testing and research, and are used mainly by public institutions after being evaluated for effectiveness by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regardless of permission from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
It will be distributed to 23 institutions of local governments across the country by the 29th (5 response centers by region, 18 health and environment research institutes by region) and will be used from the next day, the 30th.
Using the new reagent, all confirmed cases of COVID-19 imported from abroad will be investigated, and other 'Omicron epidemiologic cases' that have been confirmed to have contact with an Omicron infected person will be analyzed.
The new mutation PCR method can identify 5 major mutations at once: 4 mutations: alpha, beta, gamma, and delta, and 5 micron mutations.
It is the world's first PCR test that can identify 5 major mutations at once. An additional five-day genomic analysis test had to be performed.
If the newly developed mutation PCR method is used instead of the conventional genomic analysis test, the identification time can be shortened to within 3 to 4 hours.
Jung Eun-kyung, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "We expect that the new mutated PCR reagent will be able to quickly determine the presence of microns and effectively block the spread and spread of microns."
(Photo = Yonhap News)