<Anchor> The number of



new confirmed cases was 50,000, a decrease of nearly 30,000 from a week ago.

The quarantine authorities predicted that this decline would continue for the next month, but the appearance of new mutations is the variable.

A type with stronger radio wave power than the existing stealth Omicron has been confirmed for the first time in Korea.



Reporter Han Seong-hee reports.



<Reporter>



Last week, the average daily number of confirmed cases was 58,000, down 34% from the previous week.



Both severe cases and fatalities decreased by 32%.



[Lee Sang-won / Head of Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Team, Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters: Weekly new confirmed cases have decreased for 6 weeks in a row.

I think the downward trend will continue for more than a month.] With a



clear downward trend, the risk level fell to 'medium' in 15 weeks in the non-metropolitan area following the nationwide and metropolitan areas.



The quarantine situation is stable, but the variable is the emergence of new mutations.



Stealth Omicron, which has 20% more propagation power than Omicron, and a new sub-mutation known to be 27% stronger than Omicron, was confirmed for the first time in Korea.



A woman in her 50s who had completed the third dose was confirmed after arriving from the United States.



[Park Young-joon / Head of Epidemiological Investigation Team, Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters: No clinically unusual situations have been reported for the condition of the infected.

Investigations into the suspected infection are currently underway...

.]



It's not known if it's more toxic, but in the U.S., where the mutation is spreading, the number of confirmed cases increased by 70% last week from a month ago.



In South Africa, another omicron submutation BA.4 and BA.5 is prevalent, and the number of confirmed cases has increased 7-fold in one month.



Studies have also shown that these mutations evade immunity formed by infection or vaccination.



The quarantine authorities urged them to vaccinate, saying, "The risk of worsening to a serious condition is 96% lower than that of those who have not been vaccinated with the third dose."



(Video editing: Kim Jong-mi, CG: Ryu Sang-soo)