Differences in seroprevalence between epicenter and non-epicenter areas of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea

Jeong, Hye Won; Chang, Hyun-Ha; Kim, Eun Ji; Kim, Yu Kyung; Kim, Se-Mi; Kim, Eun-Ha; Kim, Young-Il; Casel, Mark Anthony B.; Kim, Seong-Gyu; Rollon, Rare; Jang, Seung-Gyu; Yu, Kwang-Min; Kim, Hee-Sung; Park, Hee Sue; Park, Su-Jin; Kim, Yong-Dae; Kim, Eung-Gook; Choi, Young Ki

To compare the standardized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroprevalence of high epicenter region with non-epicenter region, serological studies were performed with a total of 3,268 sera from Daegu City and 3,981 sera from Chungbuk Province. Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for SARS-CoV-2 IgG results showed a high seroprevalence rate in the Daegu City (epicenter) compared with a non-epicenter area (Chungbuk Province) (1.27% vs. 0.91%, P = 0.0358). It is noteworthy that the highest seroprevalence in Daegu City was found in elderly patients (70’s) whereas young adult patients (20’s) in Chungbuk Province showed the highest seroprevalence. Neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers were found in three samples from Daegu City (3/3, 268, 0.09%) while none of the samples from Chungbuk Province were NAb positive. These results demonstrated that even following the large outbreak, the seropositive rate of SARS-CoV-2 in the general population remained low in South Korea.