Authorities: "Undetermined Omicron Transmission Cases Will Increase"... Impact of Rapid Testing Introduction and High Infectivity

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Health authorities expressed concern that infections with unknown transmission routes of the Omicron COVID-19 variant will continue to increase. Due to the fundamental characteristic of COVID-19 being respiratory transmission, the number of infected individuals is inevitably rising during the use of multi-use facilities, and with the introduction of rapid testing, the speed of infection confirmation is expected to accelerate.

On the afternoon of the 29th, Park Young-jun, head of the epidemiological investigation team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said at a COVID-19 back briefing, "We expect the number of Omicron cases with unknown transmission routes to increase," adding, "There are limits to identifying and isolating all people exposed at the same time in multi-use facilities, so it is somewhat inevitable that the proportion of unknown cases will rise over time."

Authorities have understood that most domestic Omicron infections occurred as 'n-th generation infections' following overseas importation, but recently, confirmed Omicron cases with unknown transmission routes have appeared within local communities. Among the 40 newly confirmed domestic Omicron cases added that day, 11 did not know their infection routes. Nine cases were from Gwangju, and two from Iksan, Jeonbuk.

Given the nature of the COVID-19 virus, authorities anticipate that such cases with unknown transmission routes will continue to increase. Regarding this, Park explained, "Transmission is possible even during the asymptomatic period, and respiratory transmission infections can spread when staying in the same space with confirmed cases for a long time," adding that "this is the same for Delta, Alpha, or non-variant viruses, not just Omicron." Therefore, infection spread during the use of multi-use facilities is inevitably unavoidable.

Additionally, since PCR reagents for rapid Omicron confirmation were distributed to local governments on this day and are scheduled to be used nationwide starting the 30th, the number of confirmed Omicron cases with unknown transmission routes is expected to increase further. Park said, "Especially from tomorrow, when rapid diagnostic testing becomes possible at local governments, the number of tests will increase, and cases with unknown transmission routes are predicted to rise rapidly," adding, "While the proportion of confirmed Omicron cases may not change significantly, the scale is expected to increase."

Among the newly added domestic community infection cases that day, there was also a soldier. Park stated, "One person related to the Gwangju Seo-gu restaurant case is a professional soldier," and "It is presumed that transmission occurred through multi-use facilities during leave." However, he added, "It has not officially entered and spread within military units," and "There is no information received yet regarding cases related to military unit cluster outbreaks."

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