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Today (20th), the number of new corona cases in Korea is expected to be in the mid-20,000s.
The government is reviewing whether to lift the quarantine obligation for confirmed cases, but it was confirmed that we decided to delay the release by one more month as a result of our coverage.
This is Cho Dong-chan, a medical reporter.
<Reporter>
An official from the quarantine authorities told SBS that opinions within the government had gathered to extend the 7-day quarantine of confirmed patients by one more month.
The main reason is that it reflects recent research showing that lifting quarantine can trigger infection.
A Harvard University study in the United States found that even patients with mild symptoms of Omicron infection after receiving the vaccine excreted enough virus to infect others by the fifth day of confirmation.
[Lee Geun-Hwa/Professor of Microbiology at Hanyang University: Virus released after 5 days can eventually infect and spread to other people.]
The possibility of new mutations and the removal of psychological quarantine will also be decided again a month later. That's why I decided to do it.
It seems that if the quarantine obligation is lifted, the living support expenses for the confirmed patients will be cut off, and the burden of treatment costs will increase as well.
It is not easy to apply uniformly as the symptoms are different for each confirmed patient.
[Confirmed: Actually, I am at a mild level, so it doesn’t matter if I go out to work, but there are people who have severe fever or chills.]
There is no clear international standard for the stabilization period for the new government to lift quarantine obligations.
However, it was decided to extend the contact visits with nursing hospitals and facilities, which were temporarily allowed until the 22nd, by one month.