Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Sep;40(5):351-360.
doi: 10.3343/alm.2020.40.5.351.

Guidelines for Laboratory Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Korea

Ki Ho Hong #  1 , Sang Won Lee #  2 , Taek Soo Kim  3 , Hee Jae Huh  4 , Jaehyeon Lee  5 , So Yeon Kim  6 , Jae Sun Park  2 , Gab Jeong Kim  2 , Heungsup Sung  7 , Kyoung Ho Roh  8 , Jae Seok Kim  9 , Hyun Soo Kim  9 , Seung Tae Lee  10 , Moon Woo Seong  3 , Namhee Ryoo  11 , Hyukmin Lee  10 , Kye Chul Kwon  12 , Cheon Kwon Yoo  2
Affiliations
Review

Guidelines for Laboratory Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Korea

Ki Ho Hong et al. Ann Lab Med. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which began in December 2019, is still ongoing in Korea, with >9,000 confirmed cases as of March 25, 2020. COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and real-time reverse transcription-PCR is currently the most reliable diagnostic method for COVID-19 around the world. Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine and the Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control propose guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19 in clinical laboratories in Korea. These guidelines are based on other related domestic and international guidelines, as well as expert opinions and include the selection of test subjects, selection of specimens, diagnostic methods, interpretation of test results, and biosafety.

Keywords: COVID-19; Guidelines; Korea; Laboratory diagnosis; Outbreak.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

References

    1. Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, Qu J, Gong F, Han Y, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet. 2020;395:507–13. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coronaviridae Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The species severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2. Nat Microbiol. 2020 Mar 2; doi: 10.1038/s41564-020-0695-z. (Epub ahead of print) - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Guidelines in response to coronavirus disease 2019. 7-3rd ed. (for local government) https://www.cdc.go.kr/board/board.es?mid=a20507020000&bid=0019&act=view&... (Updated on March 15, 2020)
    1. World Health Organization. Laboratory testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in suspected human cases: interim guidance. https://www.who.int/publications-detail/laboratory-testing-for-2019-nove... (Updated on March 19, 2020)
    1. Chu DKW, Pan Y, Cheng SMS, Hui KPY, Krishnan P, Liu Y, et al. Molecular diagnosis of a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causing an outbreak of pneumonia. Clin Chem. 2020 Jan 31; doi: 10.1093/clinchem/hvaa029. pii: hvaa029. (Epub ahead of print) - DOI - PMC - PubMed