S.Korea set to double supply of coronavirus tests to U.S.

OSANGJAIEL Co

14/04/2020 10:47

By Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang
    SEOUL, April 14 (Reuters) - South Korea's SolGent has
secured an order to supply a U.S. government agency with an
additional 7,500 kits which can each perform 100 coronavirus
tests, the CEO of the biotech firm told Reuters.
    That will double the number of tests U.S. authorities can
perform using kits sourced from South Korea to 1.5 million.
    SolGent has already sent kits for 150,000 tests while South
Korean peers Osang HealthCare and SD BIOSENSOR are due to ship
kits capable of performing 600,000 tests on Tuesday, company
sources told Reuters.  L3N2C11U9 
    The kits are being sent to the U.S. Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) after an appeal from U.S. President
Donald Trump.  L3N2C11U9       
    Trump made a request for medical devices in a telephone call
with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on March 25.
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    The U.S. death toll from COVID-19, the lung disease caused
by the virus, topped 23,600 on Monday, the highest of any
country.   
    SolGent CEO You Jae-hyung told Reuters that the company is
in talks on a long-term contract with FEMA and about building a
factory in the United States to manufacture the testing kits,
but that a decision has not been made. 
    U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris said on Twitter
Tuesday that testing kits had been loaded at Incheon Airport
bound for the United States.
    He called the alliance between the two countries "ironclad"
and thanked South Korea's foreign ministry for its help. 
    FEMA did not immediately respond to Reuters' emailed
inquiries. The foreign ministry declined to comment.        
    The ministry had said that three companies had won
preliminary approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) to export kits, but did not identify the firms.
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    After struggling with the first large outbreak of the virus
outside of China, South Korea has largely managed to curb its
spread without lockdown orders helped by a massive testing
campaign and intensive contact tracing.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BC1PH
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2B557J    

 (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang; Additional
reporting by Sangmi Cha; editing by Jason Neely)
 ((hyunjoo.jin@thomsonreuters.com; 82-2-3704-5685; Reuters
Messaging: hyunjoo.jin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))