<Anchor> Even though the
number of tests decreased over the weekend, the reason the number of confirmed cases increased so much is because the positive rate, which represents the ratio of confirmed cases to tests, has risen. Among those tested, more than 5% were confirmed as confirmed, which is analyzed due to the influence of the delta mutation, which is highly contagious.
This is Cho Dong-chan, medical reporter.
<Reporter>
The meaning of the COVID-19 positive rate can be easily understood compared to the UK.
The number of tests per day is 14,000 in Korea and 1.12 million in the UK, nearly 100 times higher.
The positive rate is 5.1% in Korea and 2.2% in the UK.
If Korea tests as much as the UK, the number of patients is simply calculated as 57,400.
However, it is difficult to compare with a simple calculation because there are many variables such as the fact that there are many contacts with a high probability of confirming the test.
Still, a high positive rate is a dangerous sign.
This means that there is a lot of covert transmission in the community.
In the same vein, it is also worrisome that the rate of unknown infection route has exceeded the target limit of 20% with an average of 26.8% over the past two weeks.
If this situation continues, it will be difficult to block infection by epidemiological investigation, so it is inevitable to increase the level of social distancing.
The surge in confirmed cases seems to be a sign of a full-fledged domestic landing of the delta mutation.
There are also reports that the delta mutation has high lethality as well as propagation power.
[Hans Kluke / WHO European Commissioner: Delta mutations are rapidly outpacing alphas, increasing the seriousness and mortality rates.]
Health authorities are
increasing the
viral genetic analysis rate to respond to delta mutations, and there is a clear spread of the virus. The metropolitan area has decided to expand the inspection to 25%.