NEW COVID VARIANT CAUSES EYE DISEASES

[Anchor Lead]

Turning to COVID-19 news. The daily average number of confirmed cases last week increased by nearly 20% compared to the previous week. A new variant virus with strong transmissibility has been confirmed to have entered the country, and its characteristic is that it causes eye infections when infected.

[Pkg]

A new COVID-19 variant, XBB.1.16, surging across India was detected for the first time in Korea on March 9th. So far, 152 cases of the XBB.1.16 have been confirmed locally. Dubbed the Arcturus, the new variant is known to cause eye inflammation, red and itchy eyes in some patients along with the usual COVID-19 symptoms of fever and coughing. The Arcturus' transmission is between 1.17 to 1.27 times faster than that of the Omicron variant. It is spreading quickly in India, the United States, Singapore, Australia and Canada. The World Health Organization designated XBB.1.16 a variant of interest. It has the potential to surge in Korea as well.

[Soundbite] Lim Suk-young(Central Disease Control HQs) : "The new variant causes an increase in immune escape capacity. But there hasn't been any report of a rise in critical cases."

In the past week, the average daily number of cases went up 18% compared to the previous week. The COVID-19 reproduction number, an indicator of the disease's spread, stood at 1.08, showing that the variant has been spreading fast in recent weeks. Disease control authorities said the new variant will be monitored steadily, but reassured the nation that the weekly COVID risk level remains low. This assessment was based on several indicators, including the weekly death figure that has been dropping for eleven consecutive weeks.