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The number of new corona cases in Korea is expected to reach 4,000 today (6th). If this decline continues, some quarantine measures may be lifted before the Lunar New Year. The government thinks that the key will depend on the spread of Omicron and the third vaccination to stop it.



Correspondent Park Jae-hyun.



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A hospital in Gangseo-gu, Seoul is in full swing for the third dose of COVID-19.



5 months after the second inoculation, Mr. A rushed to the hospital when the quarantine pass validity period of 6 months from the 3rd was applied.



[Mr. A/Third inoculation: Most of you are getting vaccinated. First of all, because people around me who got hit later than me are getting booster shots faster... .]



As the 3rd vaccination interval has been moved up to three months, the number of 3rd vaccination recipients this month has reached 12 million.



[Kim Jae-hyun/Hospital Director (specialist): Since the quarantine pass was implemented, the number of inoculated people is experiencing about twice as much. (The person who completed the basic vaccination) had to come again to get the booster shot, so the number of inoculations increased a lot… .]



Currently, 37.7% of adults over the age of 18 and 79% of those over the age of 60 have completed the third dose.



The quarantine authorities are expecting a higher rate of inoculation.



This is because, if the omicron mutation spreads rapidly, the third dose is the best way to reduce the rate of infection and seriousness.



As a result of a study by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when 100 people were infected with the second dose, only 17 people were infected with the third dose.



New confirmed cases, severe cases, and deaths are all decreasing.



[Hae-cheol Jeon/Second Director of Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters: Last week, the infection reproduction index was 0.86, which has been on a downward trend for three consecutive weeks since the second week of December.

The number of critically ill patients is 953, which is the lowest figure in the last two weeks.]



Whether the current distance can be lifted before the Lunar New Year on the 1st of next month depends on the spread of Omicron and the rate of third dose.