<Anchor>

Today (21st), 8 o'clock news will be delivered to you from the contents covered by our medical journalist. Corona19, which recently spread around the Itaewon Club in Seoul, has been gradually decreasing the number of additional confirmers, but it is not yet known who and how it started. However, when the health authorities analyzed the virus of the club-related confirmers, it was confirmed that the virus was different from the virus that caused the collective infection in the Sincheonji Church in Daegu. It seems to be a clue to the path of infection.

First, let ’s look at the solo reporter of Cho Dong-chan, a medical journalist, and continue the story.

<Reporter> There

are three major coronaviruses worldwide.

Similar to that found in bats, type A in early Chinese Wuhan patients.

After type A was transformed outside of Wuhan, China, it spread largely in East Asia including China and Korea.

In addition, the B-type changed, and the C-type became popular around Europe and the United States.
In Korea, in the early stages of the Corona19 virus, type A was mainly found, but after the situation in Sincheonji, Daegu, type B was the cause of the group infection.

In the case of type C, it has been individually confirmed by European or American immigrants, but it has not spread from a collective infection.

For this reason, it has been speculated that the Itaewon Club group infection may have originated from a hidden type B infection.

However, my expectations were wrong.

When a Korean research team analyzed the viral genes of the Itaewon club-related infections, it was confirmed that it is not the prevalent B type, but the C type that is prevalent in the United States and Europe.
Type C has a mutation called G614 in the spike protein that causes the virus to stick to cells, and recent studies have shown it is more contagious than type B.

The Director of Virus Analysis at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that they were cautious in the early stages, but confirmed that the Itaewon group infection was different from Sincheonji.

The discovery is also expected to affect the flow of corona19 in Korea and to refine strategies for treatment and vaccine development.

(Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young, CG: Jun-ho Lee, Soo-in Lee)    

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