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As you can see, it's an emergency because of Omicron, but we still don't know exactly what this mutation has. The South African doctor who discovered Omicron in the first place said he was extremely tired, but his taste and smell remained the same.
Reporter Ahn Jung-shik introduces this.
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Earlier this month, South Africa, where an omicron mutation was discovered around the same time as Botswana.
Doctor Angelique Kutze, who first discovered the omicron mutation in South Africa and reported it to the health authorities, had an interview with the British daily The Telegraph.
He said that he treated more than 20 omicron mutation patients, and the symptoms were different from before.
First, extreme fatigue symptoms, patients infected with the omicron mutation complained of extreme fatigue even though they were young.
Second, maintaining taste and smell, while the existing corona confirmed patients lost their taste and smell, Omicron confirmed patients maintained their taste and smell.
In some cases, a 6-year-old child was confirmed, and the pulse rate became very high along with a fever.
However, compared to these specific symptoms, Dr. Kuche's diagnosis was that the symptoms were not counted.
The 6-year-old child's symptoms improved two days later, and all other confirmed patients are now healthy.
However, Dr. Kuche said that elderly people with underlying medical conditions could be at a serious risk if not vaccinated.
In a situation where there is not much information about Omicron, Dr. Kuche's treatment experience seems to be an important clue, but it is difficult to determine the characteristics of Omicron from this alone.
Omicron mutations are often predicted to be more infectious than delta mutations.
The medical community expects it to take up to two weeks for an accurate characterization and risk assessment.
(Video coverage: Hwang In-seok, video editing: Jo Moo-hwan)