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| The door of the British Airways office at Incheon Airport is closed on the afternoon of the 23rd, when the government decided to temporarily suspend flights to the UK by the end of the year to block the spread of the new coronavirus infectious disease (Corona 19) mutant virus in the UK. Accordingly, domestic airlines decided to stop operating flights departing the UK from this day. 2020.12.23/News1 © News1 Reporter Park Ji-hye |
As four family members who recently returned from the UK were diagnosed with a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) during self-quarantine, interest is growing in whether they are infected with the mutant virus.
According to the city of Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, a man in his 80s died of cardiac arrest during self-isolation on the 26th and was diagnosed as’confirmed after death’, and three family members who returned to Korea on the 27th were also confirmed.
A, who died at 10:45 am on the 26th, suffered a cardiac arrest at home, and was transferred to the National Health Insurance Ilsan Hospital for first aid, but died at 11:27 am on the same day. The result of the Corona 19 test for Mr. A was positive.
Afterwards, the test result of the spouse B, the family member, and the couple of children were positive on the 27th.
The two children, Mr. C, first entered the country from the UK on the 8th of last month, and three others, including Mr. A, were in self-quarantine after receiving the first negative test after entering the country on the 13th of this month.
With the confirmation of these family members, health authorities are keenly aware of whether they have infected the mutant virus recently discovered in the UK.
This mutant virus is known to be more contagious due to genetic modification, and is up to 70% more contagious than the existing Corona 19.
The mutant virus has been confirmed in Europe, such as France, Denmark, and Spain, as well as in the Middle East and Canada. In Asia, infections have also emerged from Japan and Singapore.
The government has suspended all flights departing from both countries from the 23rd to the 31st in order to prevent domestic inflow, but these families have returned before such measures.
The health authorities are collecting samples of Mr. A and analyzing them for mutant viruses, and the results are expected to come out as early as the end of this month.
Meanwhile, three people, including Mr. A, who entered Korea on the 13th, did not have a special movement due to self-isolation, but it was confirmed that C, who entered the country last month, was removed from self-isolation and had outside activities.
Accordingly, the quarantine authorities are conducting an epidemiological investigation on the movement of Mr. C and the contact person.