The resurgence of COVID-19 is not unusual.
It is predicted that the scale of the epidemic will soon exceed 50,000, similar to last winter’s epidemic, but it can be a variable in the plan to downgrade the Corona 19 infectious disease grade as early as next month.
Reporter Kim Hyun-ah reports.
[Reporter]
As the heat began to set in earnest, people wearing masks disappeared from the streets before I knew it.
In the suffocating heat, vacation spots are crowded메이저놀이터 with people, and air-conditioned buildings keep their windows and doors closed and ventilation takes a back seat.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen steeply.
The number of confirmed cases has increased for four consecutive weeks, jumping by more than 60% in July alone. Despite concerns that many people with symptoms do not get tested, the number of confirmed cases has soared, raising concerns about a resurgence.
Over time, immunity fell again, and the current dominant species, XBB 1.5, has excellent immune evasion, and quarantine is also mitigated. Experts believe that the current epidemic scale is similar to last winter.
Fortunately, the rate of serious illness or death rate is stable, but if the number of infected rapidly increases, the damage to vulnerable groups such as the elderly will inevitably increase, so we must be vigilant.
[Baek Soon-young / Professor Emeritus, Catholic University of Korea Medical School: (Corona 19) The current fatality rate is 0.03%. This is not much different from the flu, but rather slightly lower than the flu, but what is different from the flu is that it is very dangerous for the elderly.] The spread of Corona 19 is a variable even in the downgrade of the Corona infectious disease rating to be announced next month at the earliest
. is expected to become.
This is because there is great concern about changing the obligation to wear a mask indoors to a recommendation even in facilities vulnerable to infection, such as large medical institutions and nursing homes, when it is adjusted to a grade 4 infectious disease. For this reason, it is pointed out that prior to the easing of the infectious disease rating, it is necessary to
think more about ways to protect the elderly and residents of vulnerable facilities, and to increase the vaccination rate of the elderly when inoculating a new XBB mutation-based vaccine in October.