Living in Incheon … No overseas travel history
3 times the propagation power of BA.5 … strongest in existence
Possibility of community spread
The BA.2.75 (aka Centaur) mutation, which is known to have greater immune evasion properties due to a submutation of Omicron, was the first confirmed case in Korea.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced on the 14th that the sample analysis of a male in his 60s living in Incheon confirmed the mutation in BA.2.75. This patient developed suspicious symptoms on the 8th and was confirmed on the 11th. Earlier, during a random sample test for mutation analysis, the Incheon Research Institute for Health and Environment identified a genome suspected of having a BA. The quarantine authorities are conducting an epidemiological investigation. This patient has no overseas travel history. Therefore, analysis suggests that the virus may have already spread to the community. The patient is quarantined at home with mild symptoms. No additional confirmed cases have been identified among cohabitants or community contacts.
BA.2.75 was first discovered in late May in India and has since spread rapidly. 119 cases were confirmed in regarding 10 countries, including the United States, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand. It is also called ‘centaur mutation’, given the name of the half-human and half-beast from Greek mythology because of its rapid spread and strong immune evasion properties.
As of the 6th of last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) counted 194 detailed phylogenetic mutations in Omicron. As the number of confirmed cases increases, the detailed lineage becomes more diverse, so the number of mutations inevitably continues to increase. Like BA.2.75, if a number is followed by another number, it means that it is derived from BA.2.
Compared with the previous submutation, BA.2.75 has more mutations in the dendritic protein, so the virus binds to the cell more effectively and evades the antibody formed by vaccine or infection. WHO and other quarantine authorities around the world are closely monitoring changes in the characteristics of this mutation.
If the COVID-19 outbreak becomes stronger and the infection reproduction index increases by 30%, it is predicted that the number of new cases might rise to 300,000 in one month. According to the ‘Corona 19 Epidemic Prediction’ report released by the National Institute of Mathematical Sciences on the same day, if the infection reproduction index increases by 30% from the 13th, the number of daily confirmed cases will increase to 81,267 following two weeks, and then 288,546 following four weeks. expected to increase the rate of increase.
The infection reproduction index is an index that quantifies how many people each patient infects. If it is 1 or more, it means epidemic spread, and if it is less than 1, it means epidemic suppression. As of the 13th, the number of new confirmed cases stood at 39,196.
There were regarding 1,000 fewer people than the day before, but it was double the number one week ago and four times the number two weeks ago.
Reporter Kim Jong-un [email protected]