Celltrion, located in Songdo, Incheon, is being extra vigilant against the sudden spike of COVID-19 patients in the city, as it awaits conditional approval of its antibody treatment, according to a person familiar with the matter, Monday.

“Employees at Celltrion are now advised to take their work laptops home with them every day, so that in the case we become confirmed patients, we can immediately work from home under quarantine,” a Celltrion employee told The Korea Herald under the condition of anonymity. There have been no confirmed cases within the company.

Celltrion staff are receiving daily emails from the company warning them to “not become the first confirmed case from Celltrion.”

Incheon marked 34 additional confirmed patients on Monday.

The Yeonsu-gu regional office recorded an accumulated 168 confirmed patients Sunday. Among them, 114 were declared as having been released after recovery; 54 were being treated. Those who are self-quarantining as a preventive measure after overlapping with patients’ movement routes amounted to 930.

According to the source from Celltrion, there is a companywide perception that they are days away from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s approval for Celltrion’s CT-P59 antibody treatment for COVID-19. Employees are working around the clock preparing approval application documents for the Drug Ministry.

On Wednesday, Celltrion said through an official press release that it had finished administering CT-P59 (regdanvimab) in 327 patients enrolled in its clinical phase 2 trial conducted across Korea, the US, Romania and Spain.

Celltrion Chairperson Seo Jung-jin personally vowed in an interview with a local media that CT-P59 will be available early next year.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)