'20 People in Local Community' Among 49 Additional Variant Confirmed Cases... Authorities Say "Occupancy Rate Will Increase Anytime" (Update)

"15 Cases Confirmed in Existing Domestic Cluster Outbreaks"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] An additional 49 cases of COVID-19 variant virus infections have been confirmed domestically. As a result, the total number of variant virus cases confirmed since October last year has increased to 379.

Lee Sang-won, head of the Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, stated at the regular COVID-19 briefing on the 12th, "As a result of genetic analysis conducted on 679 confirmed COVID-19 cases last week (from April 5 to April 12, 0:00), 49 variant virus infections were confirmed: 20 out of 627 domestic cases and 29 out of 52 imported cases. The variant rate was 3.2% among domestic cases and 56% among imported cases," he explained.

Since October last year, a total of 6,453 cases have been analyzed, confirming 379 variant virus cases. By type, the UK variant accounted for the most with 324 cases, followed by the South Africa variant with 46 cases, and the Brazil variant with 9 cases.

Among the 49 newly confirmed cases, all 20 domestic cases were the UK variant. Of the 29 imported cases, 24 were the UK variant, 4 were the South Africa variant, and 1 was the Brazil variant. Ten cases were detected during quarantine, and the remaining 19 were identified through tests conducted during self-isolation after entry.

Park Young-jun, head of the Epidemiological Investigation Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said, "Among the domestic cases, 15 were confirmed in existing cluster cases, and 5 were identified in individual cases not yet classified as clusters. This was confirmed through additional variant analysis of cases with unknown infection routes in areas where variants had been previously detected, or by focusing variant analysis on foreigners with unknown infection routes to strengthen community surveillance."

The existing cluster cases where additional variant virus cases were confirmed this time include ▲6 people from a foreigner gathering in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province ▲4 people from a bathhouse in Buk-gu, Ulsan ▲3 people from a company and bathhouse 2 in Buk-gu, Ulsan ▲1 person from a stone product manufacturing industry in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province ▲1 person from a middle school and sports gym in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province.

The health authorities positively evaluate the fact that the detection rate of variant viruses among domestic cases has not significantly increased. However, since variant viruses have become the dominant strain overseas, they are closely monitoring the spread. Lee emphasized, "In other countries such as Europe, the variant virus rate changed from less than 10% to a dominant strain exceeding 50% within just a few months. Although the current share is low in Korea, it could increase at any time."

The authorities are expanding surveillance and analysis of variant viruses, including strengthening quarantine measures for overseas entrants. They diagnosed, "Cluster infection cases have continuously increased in areas where the UK variant virus was confirmed," and "Recently, the occurrence of South Africa variant infection cases without epidemiological links has increased the risk of community infection."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.