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As of 6pm a little while ago, the number of people who were diagnosed with the virus in one day today (the 11th) already exceeded 30,000.

It's only been two months since May.

The number of patients is doubling every week because the number of people infected with Corona is increasing as the sub-mutation of the Omicron is spreading rapidly.

Not only this, but new mutations are also spreading, which is more worrisome.



More details will be provided by medical reporter Dong-chan Cho.



<Reporter>



Corona testing room at a respiratory treatment center in Seoul is busy again.



As the BA.5 mutation spreads, the number of first infections and reinfections are increasing simultaneously.



[Infection 3 months ago: I was a little worried.

I'm still wearing a mask these days.]



Reinfection is not uncommon even in people over the age of 60 with a high booster vaccination rate, and the symptoms are even worse than the first infection.



[Gyu-seon Jang / Otolaryngology Specialist at Hana Otolaryngology Hospital: (Reinfected patients over 60 years old) In particular, the symptoms of sore throat and fever seem to have gotten worse compared to the first infection.]



BA.5 is dominant in both the UK and the US However, there were differences in the evidence.



In the United States, the most common symptom was fever, followed by a runny nose, sore throat, cough, and headache.



Fever is the most common in the United States, with only one-third of those infected in the United Kingdom.



Last spring, BA.1, the original Omicron in the US, and BA.2, the Stealth Omicron in the UK, were popular, and the University of London analyzed this difference.



This is the structure of the ohmic sub-displacement.



BA.2 and BA.5 are more similar than BA.1.



There is also much more overlapping genes between BA.2 and BA.5.



If a person with BA.2 develops a similar BA.5, it is relatively mild and does not have a fever.



We had BA.2 as the dominant species last March, so if a person who was infected at this time becomes infected again now, he or she may not have a fever and the diagnosis may be delayed.



[Lee Geun-Hwa/Professor of Microbiology at Hanyang University: (BA.5) There may be some differences in transmission power, but the clinical symptoms that can appear when infected are similar to (BA.2)…

.]



BA.5's fatality rate is lower than the original Omicron, but still poses a threat to high-risk groups.



Here, a mutation changed from BA.2 again appeared, and the World Health Organization is closely monitoring whether the transmission power is stronger.



It is BA.2.75, which was first confirmed in India in June and has spread to about 10 countries.



Early reports indicated that the symptoms were milder than the original Omicron.



(Video coverage: Park Hyeon-cheol, video editing: Kim Jong-mi, CG: Jang Seong-beom, Eom So-min)