Authorities: "Confirmed cases after the 3rd dose have a 94% lower risk of severe illness than unvaccinated confirmed cases"

First Omicron Death in Gwangju... "Impact of Advanced Age in 90s and Underlying Conditions"

On the first workday of the new year, the 3rd, office workers are passing in front of the construction site barriers for the restructuring of Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. Citizens behind the barriers appear lively without masks. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The health authorities revealed that the severity and mortality risk in cases of breakthrough infection after the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine was 93.6% lower than in cases confirmed without vaccination.

On the afternoon of the 3rd, Lee Sangwon, head of the Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH), said, "The third dose vaccination rate for those aged 60 and over has increased to 77.2%, and the proportion of confirmed cases among those aged 60 and over is continuously decreasing," adding, "On the 2nd, the Recovery Support Committee's Prevention and Medical Subcommittee presented the opinion that 'the increase in the third dose vaccination rate has reduced the proportion of cases among the elderly, and severe cases are expected to plateau or decrease in the future.'

Currently, the detection rate of the Omicron variant in Korea has been confirmed to be continuously increasing. The Omicron detection rate rose by 5.1 percentage points from 3.7% in the fourth week of December to 8.8% in the fifth week. Considering it was 0.2% in the first week of December, it is expected to soon become the dominant strain domestically. Notably, 70% of imported COVID-19 cases have been confirmed as the Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, Park Youngjun, head of the Epidemiological Investigation Team at the CDCH, regarding the first confirmed deaths from Omicron variant infections in Korea, stated, "They were elderly aged 90 and above with underlying conditions," and diagnosed, "(In such cases) when it involves vulnerable groups with high severity, rare death cases can occur."

According to the health authorities, the first death case from the Omicron variant was a patient in their 90s hospitalized in a nursing hospital who completed the second dose of AstraZeneca at the end of October last year. This patient was confirmed positive for COVID-19 on the 26th of last month and died the following day. The Omicron confirmation was made on the 30th.

The second case was also a patient in their 90s at the same nursing hospital. They were confirmed positive for COVID-19 on the 25th of last month and died on the 29th. The analysis of the Omicron variant in this case has not yet been completed. This patient had completed the second dose of Pfizer in May last year.

Park added, "After a staff member at the nursing hospital was confirmed positive, additional transmissions occurred," and "This was a cluster case with a total of 21 confirmed cases within the facility. Among them, 3 were confirmed as Omicron variant cases, and the remaining 18 are epidemiologically related cases currently under management."

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