Five Additional Domestic 'BA.2.12.1' Cases Confirmed...All 6 Cumulative Cases Imported from the US (Update)

3 Cohabitants and 14 Close Contacts No Additional Confirmed Cases Yet

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] Five additional cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 have been confirmed in South Korea.

On the 10th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that five cases of Omicron BA.2.12.1 were newly detected domestically and epidemiological investigations are underway. Including one case confirmed on the 4th, the total number of confirmed cases in South Korea is six.

Among the six individuals detected with BA.2.12.1, five had completed their third vaccination dose, and one had completed the second dose. Two of them were asymptomatic, while four exhibited mild symptoms such as sore throat, cough, and sputum.

All six confirmed cases in South Korea were imported from the United States. In the U.S., the prevalence of the BA.2.12.1 variant has increased, leading to a rise in COVID-19 cases for five consecutive weeks. From the 25th of last month to the 1st of this month, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. was 372,167, a 27% increase compared to the previous week. The BA.2.12.1 variant's share in the U.S. rose from 28.7% on the 23rd of last month to 36.5% on the 30th. However, the number of deaths has been decreasing for five consecutive weeks.

No additional confirmed cases linked to the six individuals with the variant have been identified so far. Park Young-jun, head of the epidemiological investigation team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, stated, "If additional confirmed cases arise among 3 household members and 14 close contacts such as colleagues, variant analysis will be requested to determine whether further transmission has occurred."

Authorities are providing quarantine guidelines via 'SMS consular services' to visitors from countries with newly emerging variants, such as the U.S. (BA.2.12.1) and South Africa (BA.4, BA.5), to prevent early domestic introduction of variant viruses.

A representative from the Central Disease Control Headquarters said, "We plan to block variant introduction through pre-entry PCR testing and to detect and respond early to variant virus introduction through post-entry testing."

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