Weekly Reinfection Rate Hits All-Time High... BN.1 Detection Rate Surges to 13.2% (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The number of new weekly confirmed COVID-19 cases has decreased by 1.8% compared to the previous week. Among these, the proportion estimated to be reinfections has surpassed 13% for the first time, while the detection rate of the BN.1 variant surged to 13.2%.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 7th, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported over the week from the 27th of last month to the 3rd of this month was 371,103, a 1.8% decrease from the previous week. The effective reproduction number was 1.00, maintaining a level above 1 for seven consecutive weeks. During the same period, the average daily number of critically ill patients increased by 1.5% to 467. The average daily number of new deaths decreased by 0.3% to 48.

The authorities believe that although there is a temporary decline in confirmed cases, the epidemic peak has not yet been reached. Lee Sang-won, head of the Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, stated, "The current situation is fluctuating, and we expect the increasing trend to continue for some time. We do not consider the current point as the peak and see room for further increase."

During the fourth week of November (20th?26th), the proportion of cases estimated to be reinfections among confirmed cases exceeded 13% for the first time, reaching 13.29%. This is 1.19 percentage points higher than the previous week (12.10%). The Central Disease Control Headquarters encouraged vaccination, noting that the proportion of reinfections tends to be lower with an increased number of vaccine doses. Baek Kyung-ran, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, emphasized, "Due to the winter epidemic, reinfections have recently increased, and it is important to note that the fatality rate upon reinfection is nearly twice as high as during the first infection. Additional bivalent vaccine doses for those aged 60 and above are the most important practice and action to protect oneself from reinfection."

As of the 3rd, the detection rate of the dominant BA.5 variant dropped below 70% to 67.8%. In contrast, the detection rate of the BN.1 variant, a sublineage of BA.2.75, surged to 13.2%, nearly double the previous week's 7.3%. BA.2.75 accounted for 3.8%, BQ.1.1, a sublineage of BA.5, for 3.7%, and BF.7 for 2.8%, following BN.1.

The health authorities forecast that even with the increase in sublineage variant detection rates, the scale of the outbreak will be smaller than those in March and August. Lee explained, "In foreign countries, variants like BQ.1 and XBB have led to increases in some countries but not in others, so we need to observe how this will apply domestically. However, considering these factors, the size of the outbreak is expected to be smaller than in March or August."

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