Yeoju mayor touts nationwide use of on-site PCR tests

Yeoju Mayor Lee Hang-jin speaks during a press conference at the Press Center in downtown Seoul, Feb 24. Courtesy of Yeoju City Hall

Mayor criticizes KDCA for not acknowledging city's testing method

By Ko Dong-hwan

Yeoju, southeast of Seoul, was the first city in Korea to use on-site polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to help confirm if people were infected with COVID-19. The method is known for its precision as well as drastic saving of time due to not having to move collected samples to a separate laboratory for actual testing. The city in Gyeonggi Province started employing the method in December 2020 and has tested over 202,800 people as of Feb. 2 this year ― including those from outside the city.

Mayor Lee Hang-jin of Yeoju hopes the method, which has been proven to be more effective than other existing tests, will also be used in other cities, so that more people nationwide can get tested faster and those infected with the disease can be quarantined more promptly. His wish is shared by the broader public with more urgency than ever, as the country is seeing record-breaking numbers of daily new infection cases ― Feb. 22 saw 171,452 cases, the highest yet.

But on-site PCR testing still isn't being used widely by other city governments. Only Daejeon and Incheon International Airport are known to have employed the method. Lee said the reason behind such tardiness in boosting the country's overall COVID-19 testing is that the state disease control agency keeps refusing to acknowledge Yeoju's disease-testing capability.

"We have been requesting the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) since July 2021 to certify our city's on-site PCR testing facility as an official testing method," Lee said at a press conference, Feb. 24. "But they just kept telling us we can test if we want, and never said they will consider certifying our testing facility. Even after August 2021 when they released guidelines on operating on-site PCR testing facilities for COVID-19, the authority shared nothing with our city."

The city has so far spent 5 billion won ($4.15 million) from its budget operating Nightingale Center, the city's on-site PCR testing facility. In addition to the city residents who number about 115,000, people from outside the city have also flocked to the center for the service that costs 15,000 won and takes less than 90 minutes to return results (conventional PCR testing costs 57,000 won and takes 18 hours to confirm.)

"If on-site PCR testing had been shared more rigorously by more cities nationwide in the early phase of this pandemic, we wouldn't have come to this point when the country's daily infection cases surpass 170,000," Lee said.

Lee accused the KDCA of making false statements to the public about on-site PCR testing, for saying that on-site PCR testing is already being employed at "many" facilities under different local governments.

"Out of 243 local governments in the country, only Daejeon and Incheon airport are putting the method into practice. Is that so many?" he said.

Yeoju's slogan, according to Lee, is being a good place to raise children. Seeing the nation's current situation with soaring COVID-19 infection cases presenting a more imminent threat than ever, the mayor was passionate about expending whatever can be spared to keep the city safe. His efforts paid off: the city's COVID-19 infection record per 1,000 people was the lowest among 31 Gyeonggi provincial cities and counties as of Feb. 17, after having risen to eighth-highest last June. Small- and medium-size business operators in the city have also been recording the highest sales lately in the province, the mayor claimed. He added it resulted from the city sequestering infected patients from the uninfected more promptly than other cities and counties.

"Shouldn't we at least protect our children?" Lee asked.

The KDCA said on Feb. 22 that it had never received a request from any local clinical facilities for approval as official on-site PCR testing facilities for COVID-19. They also claimed on-site PCR testing lacks precision compared to conventional PCR testing.

"They say they didn't receive such requests from any local clinical facilities although we had actually requested the certification because common medical and administrative terminologies linked to this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic haven't been completely settled among the KDCA and local governments," Lee said, calling the KDCA's claim an "irresponsible explanation."

The mayor also rebuffed the KDCA's claim that rapid on-site PCR testing could compromise the method's precision.

"The kits used at our city's on-site PCR testing facility were approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety with 100 percent sensitivity and 99.5 percent specificity," he said. "The kits are equipped with 'fast PCR technology.' Having a shorter time for nucleic acid extraction and gene amplification than conventional PCR testing doesn't affect the precision of on-site PCR testing."

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