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number of new COVID-19 cases remained at 20,000 for the third day.

Although the trend is steadily decreasing, the government is predicting that a resurgence will start this summer.

In the United States, as the number of confirmed cases is already increasing again, the target of the 4th vaccination recommendation has been expanded to those over 50.



Reporter Park Jae-hyun reports.



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government initially predicted the timing of the COVID-19 resurgence as this fall or winter.



However, a recent study predicted that a resurgence could start in the summer even if the duty to isolate confirmed cases is maintained.



[Kim Heon-ju/Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters First Deputy Head: Even under the premise of maintaining the quarantine duty, depending on the effect of reducing immunity, there is a possibility that the epidemic will start again this summer and reach a peak around September or October.]



From early December of last year The reason is that the third dose in adults has reached a point where immunity is greatly reduced.



In particular, the transmission power is up to 27% higher than that of Stealth Omicron, and sub-mutations that have the potential to evade immunity have been detected one after another in Korea, raising concerns.



In the United States, where this mutation is spreading ahead of us, the average daily number of confirmed cases this week exceeded 100,000 for the first time in three months, and the average daily number of hospitalized patients also increased to about 23,000.



As a result, the U.S. health authorities announced that the target of the fourth dose will be expanded from the existing 65 years old and older to 50 years old and older.



Our health authorities are also planning to hold a special committee on immunization soon to discuss ways to expand the target of the fourth dose to those aged 50 or older from the current age of 60 or older.



(Video editing: Park Chun-bae, CG: Seo Dong-min)