Contrary to the government's self-praise for the success of K quarantine, the former head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) warned that a new strain could appear amid a sharp increase in the number of confirmed cases.
Professor Jeong Jae-hoon of Gachon University of Medicine announced on the 25th that “repeated outbreaks cannot be avoided in the future due to the characteristics of infectious diseases and dynamic herd immunity” at the conference of the Korean Vaccine Society.
Jeong Ki-seok, a professor at Hallym Medical University (Corona Response Special Committee member, former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) said, "It is said that when 20% of the infections in foreign countries are infected, it subsides from that point. “Limiting the quarantine limit,” he said on the 22nd, saying, “It is a situation in which the Prime Minister’s intervention is unnecessary in the quarantine decision.”
Prime Minister Kim Bu-gyeom, in a major script on the 25th, refuted the K quarantine failure theory, saying, "In the fight against Corona that has been going on for more than two years, we have minimized the sacrifice of the precious people to less than one-tenth compared to other countries with similar populations." .
On the 25th, Lee Ki-il, the first control officer of the company, said that "the peak has passed", and on the 18th, the chief of the division, Sohn Young-rae, said, "It is difficult to accurately distinguish between deaths from Omicron infection and deaths from underlying diseases. 50% said that they were infected with Omicron while having an underlying disease,” he said.
The government announced the cause of death on the 18th of the 429 deaths, with 92.1% (395) of corona or pneumonia and 5.4% (23) of worsening underlying diseases.
On the 24th, Lee Sang-won, head of the Epidemiological Investigation Unit of the Korea Central News Agency, said, "There is a possibility that children with underlying diseases may fall into serious condition. So far, there have been 20 patients with severe symptoms and 4 deaths. Children with underlying diseases should be vaccinated." “Strengthening vaccination policy.”
A survey of 359,110 parents of elementary school students on the 24th of the day showed ‘no intention to inoculate’ (60.5%, 217,237 people) and ‘intention to inoculate’ (36.1%, 129,802 people).
Professor Jeong Jae-hoon said, “The probability of a corona virus mutation appearing in Korea is an average of 30% every month. The timing of the suspension and the appearance of new mutations may be earlier than expected.”
Jung Eun-kyung, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced in early March that “the 9th of the peak is expected to reach more than 230,000 daily confirmed cases on March 9 as a result of the comprehensive prediction of the occurrence of domestic and foreign researchers.”
Professor Jeong Jae-hoon said, "The peak of the epidemic has passed for two weeks from the 9th, and the final crisis of the Omicron epidemic can be around the end of March or early April, when the number of seriously ill patients increases."
Professor Jeong Ki-seok said, “Even if 10 million people have been confirmed, it is difficult for herd immunity. A person infected with Omicron can also get Stealth Omicron (BA.2) again,” he said.
Professor Kim Woo-joo said, "A new mutant virus has appeared on average every six months. A new mutation may appear in May or June of this year, and then the risk of re-infection increases, so we should not lower our vigilance."
World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman Margaret Harrison said in a briefing on the 19th that "a combination of factors is contributing to the increase in the coronavirus. The highly contagious omicron mutation, the outbreak of BA.2 called stealth omicron, and the lifting of public health and social distancing measures are the causes of the recent increase in the number of infections," said Fox News. has reported
"It is misinformation that Omicron is a minor and final variant," said Dr Maria Van Kirkhove, WHO's head of coronavirus technology.
In Korea, as the cumulative number of confirmed cases increased from 1 million on February 6 to 10 million on March 25, a “short-term rapid expansion” tenfold for 45 days, the possibility of “the appearance of mutations in Korea” increased.
The rate of increase is 1.5 times in the United States, with more than 10 million confirmed cases in the Omicron outbreak, and 1.8 times in the United Kingdom after the dominant species of Omicron.