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 President Donald Trump, a Seoul official said, Reuters writes.
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 condition of anonymity due to the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue.
The first shipments will be handed over to and paid for by the U.S. government, the official said on Monday.
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.
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, Reuters added.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said it did not have information to share immediately.
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.
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