After Trump request, S.Korea checking if it can expand exports of virus test kits (updated)

Seegene

25/03/2020 02:01

* Trump made request for help in phone call with Moon on
Tues
    * S.Korea able to conduct 20,000 tests a day 
    * S.Korea has also received requests for help from other
countries
    * Seoul says will tighten border controls for travellers
from U.S.

 (Recasts and writes through)
    By Joori Roh and Hyonhee Shin
    SEOUL, March 25 (Reuters) - South Korean authorities said on
Wednesday they were looking at whether the country had
sufficient stockpiles of coronavirus test kits to expand exports
to the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump made a
request for help.
    Trump made the request in a telephone call late on Tuesday
with President Moon Jae-in who said Seoul would provide as much
support as possible if there was spare equipment, according to a
statement from South Korea's Blue House.
    "We have currently secured enough volume and stocks of the
test kits for domestic use, but I have to check further on the
availability for the use of exports," Jeong Eun-kyeong, chief of
the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told
reporters.
    The news comes as the United States experiences fast-growing
outbreaks in a number of states and thousands of new cases per
day - developments which also prompted South Korea to say on
Wednesday it would tighten border controls for travellers from
the United States.
    Jeong said South Korea has the ability to conduct as many as
20,000 tests per day. 
    Seegene Inc  096530.KQ , the only listed firm among the five
manufacturers approved to make test kits for the virus, said on
Wednesday it already supplies about 70% to 80% of the kits being
used in Italy and the United States. It declined to specify
those numbers.
    Jeong also said South Korea has received requests from
around 10 countries for kits and other support but declined to
identify the countries. The government has said it has exported
some kits to the United Arab Emirates and is in talks with other
nations.
    Moon visited Seegene on Wednesday and also met the chiefs of
four other kit manufacturers to praise their hard work and
contribution to the containment of the virus. Shares in Seegene
surged 30% to a record high on the news of Trump's request.
    The request highlights the diverging paths the two countries
have taken since both discovered their first coronavirus cases
on the same day.
    After a big early outbreak, South Korea rolled out
widespread testing within days, swiftly launching an aggressive
programme to isolate confirmed cases and trace their contacts.
    It won praise for slowing the spread of the disease with
comparatively little disruption. South Korea has 9,137 confirmed
infections with just 126 deaths, and has brought the number of
new infections per day to 100 or less for the past 14 straight
days.
    By contrast, the United States has more than 53,500 reported
cases and more than 700 deaths and is shutting down part of the
country en masse.
    South Korea said it would tighten border checks for
travellers from the United States by Friday in line with other
countries which have experienced large outbreaks.
    "We don't have much time given the situation where our
citizens living in North America including students who are
anxious about a rise in confirmed patients there and who are
expected to return home," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a
meeting.
    Visitors from Europe, China, Italy and Iran are required to
sign up to a smartphone application to track whether they have
any symptoms such as fever. A two-week mandatory quarantine for
all long-term arrivals from Europe took effect last Thursday. 

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Coronavirus sweeps across New York, California fears it could be
next     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2BH0CO 
GRAPHIC-Tracking the spread of the global coronavirus    https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7
Coronavirus news    https://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?navid=919104201
How Korea trounced U.S. in race to test people for coronavirus  
  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BC1PH 
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Joori Roh and Hyonhee Shin; Writing by Josh
Smith; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
 ((hyonhee.shin@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5658;))