Exclusive: South Korea set to ship coronavirus testing kits to U.S. - source

[snoop1130]

Exclusive: South Korea set to ship coronavirus testing kits to U.S. - source

By Hyonhee Shin, Sangmi Cha

 

FILE PHOTO: A medical staff member in protective gear prepares to take samples from a visitor at a 'drive-thru' testing center for the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plans to send kits designed to run up to 600,000 coronavirus tests to the United States on Tuesday after an appeal from U.S. President Donald Trump, a Seoul official said.

 

Trump made the request in a telephone call with President Moon Jae-in on March 25, as the United States was grappling with fast-growing outbreaks in many states.

 

South Korean companies have previously shipped test kits to U.S. cities including Los Angeles, but this would mark the first bulk order from the U.S. federal government.

 

A U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency cargo plane carrying the equipment is scheduled to leave at 10:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) on Tuesday, the official said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

 

South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha confirmed the Reuters report in an interview on French news channel France 24, saying that contracts have been signed and the shipments will be “ready any time soon”.

 

The first shipments will be handed over to and paid for by the U.S. government, the official told Reuters.

 

An additional package of kits that can conduct as many as 150,000 tests will be exported in the near future and will be sold through an unspecified local retailer, the official said.

 

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kits will be sourced from three companies that secured preliminary approval late last month from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to export kits to the United States, the official said.

 

He declined to name the two companies that will provide the shipments on Tuesday.

 

However, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, on condition of anonymity, that one of the two firms is Osang Healthcare and the company will provide kits for 300,000 tests.

Calls to Osang Healthcare for a comment were not answered.

 

Once struggling with the first large outbreak outside China, South Korea has largely managed to bring its coronavirus cases under control without major disruptions thanks to a massive testing campaign and intensive contact tracing.

 

South Korea credits part of its success to moves by government officials and private companies to develop and secure regulatory approval for tests, allowing the country to quickly test thousands of people.

 

The United States has recorded more fatalities from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, than any other country, nearly 22,000 as of Sunday, with 42 states imposing strict stay-at-home orders.

 

“We’ve moved as quickly as possible to get necessary clearances given the urgency of the situation there,” the South Korean official said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-13

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[sirineou]

Many thanks to the koreans perhaps other countries could help us also, 

give trump more time to play golf.   

[Tug]

Thanks s Korea and why did it take this long to order the tests?just another example of the administrations botched response imo they should have been asking for tests and guidance on how to respond months ago

[sirineou]

7 minutes ago, Tug said:

Thanks s Korea and why did it take this long to order the tests?just another example of the administrations botched response imo they should have been asking for tests and guidance on how to respond months ago

New York Times is running a report of all the warnings trump had and ignored, leaving us totally unprepared and depending on countries like Korea for help. 

https://www.axios.com/trump-coronavirus-warnings-46ea8006-2e19-4810-82c1-0f10f4f9aa97.html

 

"On Jan. 18, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar first briefed Trump on the threat of the virus in a phone call,  "

"On Jan. 27, White House aides met with then-acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to try to get senior officials to take the virus threat more seriously, the Washington Post reports. Joe Grogan, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, warned it could cost Trump his re-election. "

"On Jan. 29, economic adviser Peter Navarro warned the White House in a memo addressed to the National Security Council that COVID-19 could take more than half a million American lives and cause nearly $6 trillion in economic damage. "

"On Jan. 30, Azar warned Trump in a subsequent call that the virus could become a pandemic and that China should be criticized for its lack of transparency, per the Times. Trump dismissed Azar as alarmist and rejected the idea of criticizing China. "

"Also on Jan. 30, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global health emergency. WHO has only done so five times since gaining that power in 2005. "

"On Feb. 5, senators urged the administration in a briefing to take the virus more seriously and asked if additional funds were necessary. The administration made no requests at the time for emergency funding. "

"On Feb. 14, a memo was drafted by health officials in coordination with the National Security Council that recommended the targeted use of "quarantine and isolation measures," per the Times. Officials planned to present Trump with the memo when he returned from India on Feb. 25, but the meeting was canceled. "

"On Feb. 21, the White House coronavirus task force conducted a mock exercise of the pandemic. The group concluded that the U.S. would need to implement aggressive social distancing, even if it caused mass disruption to the economy and American lives, per the Times. "

"On Feb. 23, Navarro doubled down on his warnings in another memo, this time addressed to the president, stating that up to 2 million Americans could die of the virus."

"On Feb. 25, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Nancy Messonnier publicly warned of the virus threat and said "we need to be preparing for significant disruption in our lives.” Trump reportedly called Azar fuming that Messonnier had scared people unnecessarily and caused the stock market to plummet, per the Times."

[cycolista]

Hopefully Trump will treat this important ally with a little more respect from now on.

[Eric Loh]

16 minutes ago, cycolista said:

Hopefully Trump will treat this important ally with a little more respect from now on.

Let’s keep hoping. In Feb, he said this.

How bad were the Academy Awards this year, did you see? 'And the winner is ... a movie from South Korea,' " Trump said, impersonating an announcer, at a rally in Colorado. 

"What the hell was that all about? We've got enough problems with South Korea with trade, on top of it they give them the best movie of the year?" he asked.