기사한줄요약
게시물 내용
A new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)
mutation (B.1.1.529), 'Omicron', has spread in South Africa, causing an
emergency around the world.
Major countries are hastily restricting
the entry of travelers from South Africa and neighboring regions.
This is because, in order to prevent a
pandemic caused by the influx of delta mutations from India last summer, it is
essential to quickly block entry from regions where new mutations have been
reported.
Accordingly, South Korea is also expected
to impose travel and entry restrictions on African countries. Criticism of the
South Korean government's failure to control entry when the coronavirus began
to spread in Wuhan, China, in early 2020, continues.
Earlier, on November 26, the World Health
Organization (WHO) classified a new coronavirus mutation (B.1.1.529) found in
South Africa as a 'variant of concern' and named it the 15th letter of the
Greek alphabet. It was designated as 'o Omicron'.
Currently, there are five variants of
concern: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron.
Omicron mutations are mainly found in
South Africa, and related confirmed cases have also been reported in Botswana
and Hong Kong. Omicron mutations were found to have a whopping 32 genetic
mutations in the spike protein that affects the propagation power. Delta has 16
mutations. Because of this, scientists are concerned that the new mutation may have
as high a propagation power as the existing delta mutation.
In particular, omicron mutations appear to
possess both high contagiousness and avoidance of vaccine immune responses.
Because of this, it is predicted that existing corona vaccines will not be
effective.
On November 25, starting with the UK and
Israel, 27 EU member states and the US, as well as major Asian and Pacific
countries, began to block travelers from South Africa and neighboring regions.
Asia-Pacific countries are also taking measures to block this trend.
Reporter Song Hasung
댓글
0