Authorities: "Variant COVID-19 is the biggest variable... December nightmare could resurface"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] The novel coronavirus variant, which is spreading worldwide including in the United Kingdom and the Republic of South Africa (Namagong), has emerged as the biggest variable in domestic quarantine efforts.

On the 23rd regular briefing, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said, "The variant virus has greater transmissibility than the existing virus," adding, "It means we could return to a nightmare situation like last December."

Deputy Director Kwon further analyzed, "The domestic COVID-19 reproduction number is about 0.82, but if the UK-origin variant virus spreads widely in the country, this figure could rise to 1.2."

The reproduction number indicates how many people one confirmed case infects. A value of 1 or less means 'epidemic suppression,' while a value above 1 means 'epidemic spread.'

Deputy Director Kwon especially pointed out, "According to today's announcement by the UK government, the fatality rate could also increase, making this a very frightening situation," adding, "Various variant viruses are being discovered around the world, and reports indicate that not only the transmission speed but also the severity is increasing, which is a major variable in COVID-19 quarantine."

The UK-origin variant virus is known to be about 1.7 times more transmissible.

So far, three types of variant viruses have been confirmed domestically: from the UK, Namagong, and Brazil, with a total of 18 infected individuals. Among them, 15 are from the UK, 2 from Namagong, and 1 from Brazil.