'Red eyes but COVID'... New variant causing conjunctivitis also found in Korea

152 Cases of XBB.1.16 Variant Confirmed Domestically

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The COVID-19 XBB.1.16 variant, which has been spreading overseas recently, was found to have already been detected domestically last month.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) on the 26th, 152 cases of the XBB.1.16 variant have been confirmed in South Korea since it was first reported on March 9. The XBB.1.16 variant is a reclassified variant from XBB.1, and it is reported to have stronger transmissibility and greater immune evasion ability compared to the existing XBB.1 or XBB.1.5 variants. Some foreign media have reported that, in addition to COVID-19 symptoms, conjunctivitis and eye redness have appeared in patients infected with this variant. It is currently spreading in countries such as India, the United States, and Singapore, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated this variant as a "variant of interest."

Im Suk-young, head of the CDCH Situation Management Division, said at a regular briefing that "Omicron lineage variants tend to show somewhat increased immune evasion ability when new variants emerge. The XBB.1.16 variant is no exception," adding, "However, there have been no reports so far that the severity has increased." She continued, "Since XBB.1.16 is showing an increasing trend in some countries and there is concern about its increase in South Korea as well, we are continuously monitoring and closely observing the occurrence trends."

Meanwhile, the average daily number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea from the 16th to the 22nd was 12,609, an 18.0% increase compared to the previous week. This is analyzed to be due to the lifting of the indoor mask mandate in public transportation facilities and school attendance. Accordingly, the average daily number of severe and critical patients during the same period increased by 7.1% from the previous week to 135. The number of deaths was 6, a 2.2% decrease.

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