'Hanguksawi' Maryland Governor: "Korean COVID-19 Kits Effective"…Local Media Refutes as 'Defective'

▲Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland (left), and his Korean-American wife, Yumi Hogan (right) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The U.S. universities and Maryland state authorities using Korean-made novel coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnostic kits have strongly refuted local media reports claiming the products are defective.

Earlier, the Maryland regional media outlet 'The Baltimore Sun' reported that false positives were frequently occurring in tests using diagnostic kits from LabGenomics, which were recently exported from Korea to Maryland.

This diagnostic kit gained attention when Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, known as the 'Korean son-in-law,' urgently imported 500,000 units from Korea in April.

Regarding the report, Governor Hogan stated in a press release on the 21st (local time), "Over the past 60 days, more than 200,000 LabGenomics tests have been successfully and effectively conducted at two research laboratories in Maryland without any issues."

He added, "We will continue to utilize LabGenomics tests daily and deploy them to state public health laboratories. Additionally, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, we are preparing to introduce rapid antigen tests as part of a bipartisan interstate testing agreement."

The University of Maryland also emphasized in a statement on the same day, "We have found LabGenomics' gene amplification test to be a verifiable and satisfactorily acceptable diagnostic test."

They explained, "As we enter flu season, we had planned to transition to a platform capable of simultaneous testing for COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus. LabGenomics' test did not meet these requirements, so we have plans to develop additional viral testing capabilities and switched to CDC tests last week."

In other words, the switch to CDC tests was made to accommodate plans for simultaneous diagnosis of COVID-19 and influenza. The LabGenomics kit is exclusively for COVID-19 testing.

LabGenomics also stated on the same day, "A test was conducted at a Maryland laboratory to see if the COVID-19 diagnostic kit could detect influenza viruses, which was mistakenly reported locally as causing false positives. We have received confirmation from the Maryland state government."