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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.

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Conflict of interest statement

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

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