| On the morning of the 26th, the screening clinic at Gyeongsan City Public Health Center in Gyeongsangbuk-do, which conducts a PCR (gene amplification) test for COVID-19, is quiet. 2022.4.26/News1 © News1 Correspondent Jeong Gong-shik |
The quarantine authorities predicted on the 26th that the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in Korea would drop below 40,000 in May. It is also predicted that the number of severe cases will decrease to less than 500 after two weeks.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) made this announcement by synthesizing future outbreak predictions conducted by domestic and foreign researchers on April 20.
As for the number of confirmed cases, 5 researchers out of 6 institutions predicted that the decrease in the epidemic would continue, and predicted that it would decrease to less than 40,000 in May. The number of critically ill patients in hospital is also on the decline, and researchers from two institutions predicted that the number would decrease to less than 500 after two weeks.
Sang-won Bang, head of the Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Division, said, “The number of patients is decreasing by more than 30% every week, and this trend will continue.” ” he analyzed.
◇ Nationwide and metropolitan area Corona risk lowered to ‘medium’ for the first time in 14 weeks… Maintain ‘high’ in non-metropolitan areas
As various epidemic indicators, such as a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases, are heading in a stable direction, the Corona 19 risk assessment in the 3rd week of April was downgraded to ‘medium’ after 14 weeks. However, considering the utilization rate of intensive care units, non-metropolitan areas maintained the ‘high’ level.
By weekly risk assessment index, the utilization rate of intensive care units remained stable at 35.8% nationwide and 33.4% in the metropolitan area. However, the non-metropolitan area is relatively high at 41.4%.
The weekly average daily number of confirmed cases fell below 100,000 to 88,265. Although the daily average incidence rate of all age groups is decreasing compared to the previous week, the incidence rate is still high (217.1 cases) in the age group under 19 years old.
Those aged 60 years and older, who are at high risk of severe risk, have a lower incidence rate than other age groups with the 3rd and 4th vaccinations, but the proportion is still high at 22.4%. The number of patients with severe serious illness was 634, a decrease of 24.5% from the previous week, and the number of deaths was 1,135, a decrease of 36.8% from the previous week.
◇Corona infection reproduction index 0.7… ‘4 weeks in a row’ less than 1
The COVID-19 infection reproduction index (Rt) remained below 1 for four consecutive weeks at 0.7. The number of confirmed cases also decreased by more than 40% compared to last week.
In the third week of April (April 17-23), the number of weekly confirmed cases in Korea was 617,852, and a weekly average of 88,265, a decrease of 40.8% compared to the previous week. Rt is a value indicating how many people one infected person can infect. An Rt value of less than 1 means that the prevalence is decreasing.
In the past eight weeks, the infection reproduction index recorded 1.30 → 1.29 → 1.29 → 1.01 → 0.91 → 0.82 → 0.78 → 0.7. It fell below 1 in the 5th week of March (March 27 – April 2), and has continued to decrease since then.
◇ Acute hepatitis of unknown cause in children around the world… “Not in Korea, strengthen surveillance”
Recently, cases of acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in children under 16 years of age have been reported overseas. However, our quarantine authorities said on the same day that “there were no reports in Korea.”
Director Lee Sang-won said, “Acute hepatitis of unknown cause has been reported worldwide in children under 16 years of age since March of this year. explained.
As of the 21st, the number of patients with acute hepatitis of unknown etiology abroad was 169 from 12 countries, △UK (114) △Spain (13) △Israel (12) △Denmark (6) △Ireland (5) △Netherlands (4) ) occurred in △Italy (4) △Norway (2) △France (2) △Romania (1) △Belgium (1) △US (9). One of them was recorded as dead.
Clinical features include △Abrupt increase in liver enzymes (AST or ALT exceeding 500IU/ℓ) △Report of abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and gastrointestinal symptoms before acute hepatitis is confirmed (mostly no fever symptoms) △A B C D Hepatitis E showed symptoms such as unconfirmed.
◇ ‘BA.2.12.1 mutation’ is spreading rapidly in the US… Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “No confirmed cases in Korea”
There have been no confirmed cases of the sub-mutation ‘BA.2.12.1’ in Omicron, which is currently spreading rapidly in the United States, in Korea.
BA.2.12.1 Mutation is one of the sub-family of Omicron Mutation (BA.1) sub-mutation BA.2 (Stealth Omicron). In just two weeks in the U.S., its share rose from 6.9% to 19%.
Director Lee Sang-won explained, “It shows 31 mutations, two more than BA.2, and there is an opinion that the propagation speed is about 20% higher than Omicron BA.2, which is the mutation with the highest propagation speed known so far.”
In Korea, the detection rate of Omicron among COVID-19 cases is 100%. Among them, in the case of BA.2, which showed a detection rate of 94.2%, BA.2.3 was 63.5%, BA.2 was 16.8%, and BA.2.12 was 10.3%.
sj@news1.kr
