(Photo: Yonhap News)
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has approved the conditional use of two types of COVID-19 self-test kits as South Korea aims to further boost testing capacity in the fight against the pandemic.
The ministry's decision came Friday, clearing the temporary use of SD Biosensor's COVID-19 rapid antigen diagnostic kit and the Humasis test kit before they receive official approvals.
Acting Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki earlier said the government plans to proactively support the development of home test kits to give people the option and reduce testing barriers.
But Hong stressed the kits should be used as supplementary tools, citing their lower level of accuracy compared to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests used by health authorities.
South Korea is looking to increase virus testing due to a recent surge in new daily cases.
The average daily caseload has stayed above 600 over the past week on rising cluster infections across the nation, fanning fears of a fourth wave.
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