<Anchor> The



corona 19 mutant virus, which has been spreading all over the world since it was first discovered in the UK, has also been confirmed for the first time in Korea.

Health officials say the virus has been identified in the whole family from the UK a while ago and that other families are being investigated.

As a result, the government has decided to suspend flights from the UK until early next year and conduct additional diagnostic tests for all inbound travelers.



The first news, reporter So Hwan-wook.



<Reporter>



There are a total of 3 people infected with Corona 19'mutant virus', as revealed by the quarantine authorities.



They were a family residing in London, England, and they entered Korea through Incheon International Airport on the 22nd, were examined, confirmed, and received quarantine treatment.



This is the first time that a mutant virus from the UK has been confirmed in Korea.



[Kwak Jin/Central Defense Countermeasures Headquarters Patient Management Team Leader: Three out of four family members have confirmed the virus that is being reported in the UK.]



Health authorities have

confirmed

whether the virus has infected four other family members who have arrived from the UK

.

We are also investigating.



Of these, one male in their 80s was confirmed positive on the day (26th), and the other three were positive the next day.



Whether these families are infected with the mutant virus is due as early as this week.



The government has stepped up measures to prevent further influx of the corona19 mutant virus from the UK.



It was decided to extend additional pre-containment tests to all countries before decontainment, which was conducted on arrivals from Britain and South Africa.



[Eun-Kyung Jung/Director of Disease Control: The suspension of flights departing from the UK currently in effect will be extended by one week, but we will continue to review the trend in the future to check whether or not the operation is suspended.]



In addition, all inbound travelers from the UK and South Africa, including transit, are genetically modified. It is mandatory to issue a negative confirmation of the amplified Corona 19 test.



(Video editing: Jang Hyun-ki)