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South Africa, the number of patients increased 9 times in four days. Whether this is precisely because of Omicron, or whether existing vaccines are really ineffective, we will have to investigate further, but it is true that Omicron looks dangerous.



Reporter Kim Deok-hyun will explain the reason with the number of mutations.



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The omicron mutation was first discovered by a research team at Harvard University in the United States on the 11th in Botswana, south of Africa.



Since then, the epidemic has spread rapidly in neighboring South Africa.



The number of new daily confirmed cases in South Africa, which was 312 on the 22nd, has increased more than 9 times in four days.



The positive rate, which used to be in the 2-3% range, has also soared to the 9% range, and local health authorities are paying attention to the possibility that it may be the effect of Omicron mutation.



There are more than 50 mutations in Omicron in all, and there are 32 spike protein mutations alone, twice the number of delta mutations.



The spike protein plays an important role when penetrating into the human body as a protrusion on the surface of the virus, and mutations in this protein can evade the immune system of a person who has already formed antibodies or increase the transmission power.



[Eom Joong-sik/Professor of Infectious Diseases, Gachon University Gil Hospital: If the effectiveness of the vaccine is reduced and the transmission power is strong, the epidemic caused by a new mutation will occur again. The greater the mutation, the greater the likelihood that the vaccine will be less effective.]



It will take several weeks to verify whether the vaccine currently being vaccinated is effective against the omicron mutation.



[Anthony Fauci / Chief Medical Adviser of the White House: When an antibody is produced, does that antibody prevent micron mutation?

I don't know the answer right now, but I'll figure it out for sure.]



There are also South African studies showing that the omicron mutation overwhelms the transmission rate of the existing delta mutation and evades the existing antibody. It may take some time for the evaluation to appear.



(Video editing: Yonghwa Jung)