Table 2
Summary of COVID-19 testing in Korea

	Diagnostic PCR tests	Rapid PCR tests	Rapid antigen tests	Antibody tests (rapid/ELISA)
National Health Insurance Service approved day	Jul 2, 2020	Aug 6, 2020	Dec 14, 2020	Not approved
Method	Real-time RT-PCR	Real-time RT-PCR	Immunochromatography	Immunochromatography/ELISA
Analyte/target	RNA/SARS-CoV-2 specific gene	RNA/SARS-CoV-2 specific gene	Antigen/viral protein	Antibody/SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG, IgM
Specimen	NP swab, OP swab, sputum	NP swab, OP swab	NP swab, OP swab	Blood
Test time	≤6 hr	1–2 hr	15–30 min	10–15 min (ELISA: 1–2 hr)
Interpretation of result(positive/negative)	Target gene amplification (Ct value cut-off)	Target gene amplification (Ct value cut-off)	Visual inspection	Visual inspection (ELISA: semi-quantitative value)
Advantage	Highest sensitivity	High sensitivityShort test time	Short test timePoint-of-care testing	Short test time Point-of-care testing
Disadvantage	LaboratoriesExperts Long test time	Probability of false negativePositive result need to be confirmed by diagnostic PCR	Low sensitivity (high false negative rate)Positive result need to be confirmed by diagnostic PCR	Not diagnostic tests Cross-reactivity
Purpose	COVID-19 confirmation	Excluding COVID-19 in emergency	Identifying the most infectious cases	Identifying past infectionSerological investigation

COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; RT, reverse transcription; SARS-CoV-2, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; NP, nasopharyngeal; OP, oropharyngeal; Ct, cycle threshold.