There was no influence from China... When can the 'indoor mask' end?

<Anchor>

Our quarantine authorities announced the results of the first investigation that the impact of China's corona on Korea is still minimal.

At the same time, the authorities also presented the prospect that China's biggest holiday, the Chinese New Year, at the end of this month could be a hurdle for us.

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

<Reporter> The

quarantine authorities announced the analysis results of about 5,600 people who entered the country from China from the 2nd to the 7th and completed corona tests.

[Lim Sook-young/Chief of Central Defense Countermeasure Headquarters: It was confirmed that the positive rate of all immigrants from China was 19.6%.]

The positive rate of foreign nationals, including Chinese, was 17.9%, slightly lower than the positive rate of 19.1% for Korean nationals.

The possibility of forgery of China's voice confirmation is small.

For mutations originating from China, BF.7 and BA.5 took first and second place, and for Korea's own mutations, BN.1 and BA.5 took first and second place.

BA.5 was the dominant species in both Korea and China, but recently it has been changed to BF.7 in China and BN.1 in Korea.

The quarantine authorities analyzed that there was no domestic impact of the mutation from China, and that domestic mutation changes were also stable.

[Yoo Cheon-kwon/Director of Diagnosis and Analysis of Central Defense Countermeasures Headquarters: It is believed that the impact of BN.1 on the increase in confirmed cases is not significant, and there are no reports of an increase in severity.]

However, it was predicted that the Chinese New Year, the biggest holiday in China, will be a turning point.

This is because the movement of 2.1 billion people per year can cause new waves in the spread and mutation.

On average, the number of newly confirmed corona patients fell by 9.6% per week, the largest decrease since the 7th epidemic, and the infection reproduction index also fell below 1 for the first time, with an infection reproduction index of 0.95.

However, the fact that the number of new critically ill patients increased by 14% again during the week, which had been declining, is a disturbing factor.

It seems temporary, but it may be a sign that the corona is spreading to high-risk groups.

(Video coverage: Kim Min-cheol, Video editing: Kim Min-seong, CG: Jegal-chan · Eom So-min)

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<Anchor>

Jo Dong-chan, a medical reporter, is here.

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical reporter (specialist): The quarantine authorities believe that the current Chinese influence is insignificant because they are restricting the issuance of short-term visas in Korea and taking strong quarantine measures such as PCR testing after entry.

Since China's influence is minimal, he clearly drew a line saying that it doesn't make sense to talk about easing quarantine, and he emphasized that he would make a decision based on China's own situation.

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical reporter (specialist): Quarantine officials have revealed that the time for easing Chinese quarantine, originally expected in March, may be moved forward to February.

China was wary because China did not disclose corona data such as mutation status, but the number of self-reported mutations, which was only 178 in November last year, increased significantly to 620 in December, and it is expected to exceed 2,000 this month.

In addition, China's peak was seen as around March, but it was analyzed that it would have to see the Chinese New Year, but it would be pulled by about a month.

If the report that China has become transparent and has passed the peak is shared with other countries, China's quarantine will be immediately eased, but he emphasized that he will not decide on China's diplomatic pressure that is currently taking place.]

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical reporter (specialist): Indoor mask mitigation standards have already been met.

Apart from the situation in China, the number of new critically ill patients in Korea is a variable.

In the meantime, this has decreased and increased this time, but when this stabilizes, it is said that the indoor mask relief will proceed immediately.]