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Today (20th), the number of new corona cases is expected to exceed 70,000 from yesterday.

As the BA.5 mutation becomes the dominant species, the epidemic scale is expected to increase, according to the quarantine authorities.

Given this situation, the quarantine authorities are announcing additional measures today, including limiting visits to nursing hospitals.



Reporter Kim Kwan-jin reports.



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There is a long line under the tent at the screening clinic.



[Wait a minute, wait a minute.]



[Kang Geon-young / Mapo Public Health Center Screening Clinic Employee: Until two weeks ago, 300-400 (one day testers) came, these days 500-600 people came, and yesterday (18th) about 900 people came. .]



In some pharmacies, a shortage of over-the-counter medicines such as self-test kits and antipyretics was also reproduced.



The number of new coronavirus cases exceeded 70,000 for the first time in 83 days since the end of April.



Doubling, which doubles by comparing the same days of the week, has entered the third week.



[Lim Sook-young / Head of the Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters situation: As the current spread continues, we are judging that a maximum of 270,000 to 280,000 (the number of confirmed cases per day) will be possible between mid-August and the end of August.



] The domestic detection rate of the BA.5 mutation, which leads the trend, more than doubled to 47.2% in a week.



Combining the inflows from abroad, it is virtually the dominant species.



The number of patients with severe gastritis also increased for the fourth day in a row, increasing to 91.





[Kim Nam- joong

/Professor of Infectious Diseases at Seoul National University Hospital: The number of (newly confirmed) confirmed this time can affect (severe severity and the number of deaths) in about two weeks.]

He repeatedly emphasized that he would not practice social distancing like in the past.



At today's meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the government plans to announce additional measures to secure additional beds, expand the testing stations available on weekends, and suspend visits to nursing hospitals.