Administrator Lee Seung-woo of the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) attends a session to discuss ways of making “K-quarantine model” against COVID-19 a global standard with officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, related government agencies, industry and academic circles at The-K Hotel in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, on May 8. (Photo: KATS)

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) finalized an inter-ministry road map to make the so-called K-quarantine a global standard at the 6th Emergency Economy Central Countermeasures Committee Meeting on June 11.

The blueprint will be used as a guidance to propose 18 kinds of so-called K-quarantine 3T models: testing, tracing and treating for global standardization to international standardization institutions such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The international standard candidates include 18 standardization proposals such as Standard Operating Procedures for the operation of drive-thru clinics, as well as clinical data on R&D related to K-quarantine and standardization plans on standard substances.

In the latest development, the ISO adopted the procedures on the operation of drive-thru clinics as a new work item proposal, an initial process for standardization.

Among the six K-quarantine standard proposals on testing are two diagnosis methods on testing infectious diseases - reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and related reagent, equipment & testing - and four proposals on the operation of selective clinics.

The four K-quarantine standard proposals on tracing include mobile self-diagnosis, conditions on the requirement of an isolation app, a function of supporting epidemiologic surveys & personal information protection and ways of connecting self-diagnosis outcomes and electronic medical records.

The eight K-quarantine standard proposals on treating include a standard model on the operation of infectious disease case life & medical centers, guidelines on personal hygiene management & guidelines on the operation of social distancing, essential social welfare services & medical support for the underprivileged, and instructions on the prevention of cross infection.

The government plans to initially submit proposals on areas that can immediately become international standards. Sectors that need to conduct R&D for standardization will be proposed by the first half of 2022 on a gradual basis.

The government plans to ramp up innovation capability of the Korean bio industry by standardizing R&D outcomes: clinical data, standardized substances and testing methods.

They are contained as projects, to be implemented by the MOTIE, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Food & Drug Safety (MFDS) at a combined cost of 163.5 trillion won set aside in the third government supplementary budget.

The roadmap on K-quarantine 3T models for standardization was finalized through discussions by a public-private sector consultation committee on the standardization of K-quarantine models.

The committee, inaugurated in May, had a first and a second meeting on May 8 and June 8, respectively.

In the course of the establishment of the roadmap, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the coordination with other ministries and an overall task force on the international quarantine collaboration against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The task force is expected to submit international standard proposal on negative pressure rooms and guidelines on transferring infectious patients, suggested by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the National Fire Agency.

Announcing the roadmap, MOTIE Minister Sung Yun-mo said, “In the past, international society had failed to come up with standardized quarantine models on fatal infectious diseases, it takes on significance since we spearhead efforts to make them international standards.”

With making K-quarantine model international standards, he said Korea will strengthen global leadership and make it an opportunity to lead a new international order and make a leap forward.