Notification of Recipients by the End of This Month
On the 21st, citizens are waiting for testing at the COVID-19 screening clinic at Dongdaemun-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mo Honam munonam@
The government will start a COVID-19 antibody positivity rate survey targeting 10,000 people nationwide within this month and plans to announce the results as early as early September.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health disclosed the progress and detailed schedule of the "Community-Based Representative Sample COVID-19 Antibody Positivity Rate Survey," conducted in collaboration with the Korean Society of Epidemiology, on the 21st.
This survey is a public-private partnership involving the KDCA, the Korean Society of Epidemiology, 258 health centers from city and provincial governments, and 34 regional universities, targeting 10,000 residents from 17 cities and provinces.
It will test for antibodies generated by COVID-19 virus infection and conduct surveys on prior diagnosis history, vaccination history, and underlying health conditions to accurately identify the scale of natural infections and undiagnosed infections in the community.
The Korean Society of Epidemiology, leading the research, is currently selecting a demographically representative sample of 10,000 residents aged 5 and older from 258 city, county, and district areas. From the weekend of the fourth week of July, explanatory materials and notices will be sent to selected participants, after which surveyors will visit consenting households to conduct a brief survey and schedule blood collection.
Adults aged 19 and older will participate in blood collection at health centers, while children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 will visit designated cooperating medical institutions in each city, county, or district starting from the first week of August. The collected samples will then be sent to specialized testing facilities for antibody testing, and the antibody positivity rate results are expected to be announced around early September.
The quarantine authorities aim to conduct nationwide antibody positivity rate surveys of 10,000 people quarterly, totaling three times within this year.
Professor Kim stated, "In the situation where the spread of new variants is increasing, this survey will improve the accuracy of predicting infectious disease outbreaks by identifying the exact scale of infections in the community," adding, "the survey results will be used as scientific evidence to establish efficient management plans for high-risk groups and proactive quarantine measures."
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