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Corona is slowly spreading again.

The number of daily additional confirmed cases in Korea exceeded 18,000, the highest in 40 days.

In other countries, the rate of increase is also not significant.

The number of people infected with Corona per day around the world has increased by about 300,000 in one month.

In particular, in France, Europe, the number of patients increased nearly tenfold within a month, and in Germany, the number of patients surged more than threefold.

Sub-mutations in Omicron are considered to be the main cause of this spread.



Reporter Han Seong-hee will tell you.



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is the first time in 40 days since May 26 that the number of new corona cases exceeded 18,000.



The number of weekly confirmed cases increased by about 20% compared to the previous week, but it has returned to an increase in 15 weeks since the third week of March, when the Omicron epidemic peaked.



Four months after vaccination, more people have weakened immunity and the amount of movement is also considered to be the cause.



In particular, the quarantine authorities are paying attention to the sub-mutation BA.5 of Omicron.



The detection rate of BA.5, which became the dominant species in some European countries, soared from 7.5% last week to 24.1% in Korea.



[Lim Sook-young / Head of the Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters situation: BA.5 detection rate also increased significantly this week, so I think it will increase a lot next week.

So, I would like to say that there is a concern that the dominant species will soon become a dominant species.]



According to the UK Health Agency, the propagation speed of BA.5 was 35.1% faster than that of conventional Omicron.



The immune avoidance tendency was also high, and it was found that the effectiveness of preventing re-infection was reduced by more than 3 times in the case of breakthrough infection.



Even if you have been infected with the existing Omicron and have been cured, you can be infected with BA.5 again.



The government is reviewing the necessity of the 4th vaccination for the entire nation, believing that the period of the re-infestation can be accelerated.



Currently, the 4th vaccination is only available to those aged 60 years or older, immunocompromised, and those who are admitted to high-risk facilities such as nursing homes and workers.



In addition to this, we are discussing expanding the target of the fourth vaccination to those with underlying diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.



(Video editing: Kim Jong-mi, CG: Jeon Yu-geun)