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| People wait to get tested for COVID-19 at a testing center in eastern Seoul on Sept. 15. Yonhap |
By Lee Hyo-jin
Korea is facing a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections, but it may be less severe than previous ones due to the build-up of immunity from prior infections and vaccinations, according to medical experts.
The experts anticipate the newly emerging Omicron variants BQ.1 and offspring BQ 1.1 ― also known as Typhon and Cerberus respectively ― to lead the upcoming seventh wave, replacing parent variant BA.5.
Early studies suggest the two Omicron descendants evade immunity attained from previous infections or vaccines on a greater scale than other variants.
The variants, which appear to have first emerged in Nigeria in July, are spreading quickly across European countries including France, Belgium and Spain as well as the United States and Japan, leading to a spike in infections.
Korea has also seen an uptick in BQ cases. The variants accounted for an estimated 0.9 percent of the total infections across the country in the second week of October, but the figure jumped to 3.7 percent the following week.
Jung Jae-hun, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University Medical School, projected the number of BQ infections to grow further and eventually become the dominant strains.
"We are currently seeing a lot of BF.7 cases for now, but in the long term, either BQ.1 or BQ 1.1 will take over as the dominant strain as seen by the current situation in the United States and other countries," he said. "The number of BQ infections is on the rise among imported cases."
But he cautiously predicted the upcoming wave to be less severe than the previous ones led by the BA.5 variant, given the increased immunity of the population gained from vaccinations and previous infections.
The health authorities view that the country is entering a new wave, as seen by the resurgence of infections and the number of critically ill patients. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 35,924 new virus cases for Thursday, raising the aggregate total to 25,466,922.
"Daily caseloads seem to have passed a plateau and we are seeing signs of resurgence. In the past five weeks, the fatality rate has increased to 0.09 percent from the previous 0.06 percent," Health Minister Cho Gyu-hong said during a COVID-19 response meeting, Friday.
He also expressed concerns that the reproduction rate ― the number of people each infected person infects ― has surpassed 1 for the first time in nine weeks since the pandemic's sixth wave peaked in mid-August.
Public interest in vaccines declines
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| A woman receives a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in the southeastern city of Gwangju, Oct. 11. Yonhap |
Now that mitigation policies such as social distancing measures are being lifted, the government views that inoculation of updated vaccines is crucial to prevent wider virus spread, but people are somewhat hesitant to receive more shots.
After rolling out bivalent vaccines targeting BA.1 and BA.5 variants for senior citizens on Oct. 11, the government expanded the eligibility to all adults aged 18 and above on Thursday, but few are willing to get the follow-up shots.
The inoculation rate stands at a mere 1.5 percent so far, according to KDCA data.
"It's worrisome that the vaccination rate is not increasing. Nearly 10 million people aged 60 and over who are eligible for the shot haven't received it yet," Jung Ki-suk, head of the government's COVID-19 special response team, said during a recent briefing, urging active public participation in the vaccination campaign.
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