Welcome back.
Quite a number of countries are battling... rapid rebounds... in COVID-19 caseloads...
including South Korea.
On VIEW POINT... today...
we assess... the current situation... and explore... the options...
available... to better address... the latest wave.
For more...
I have Professor Howard Lee... from Seoul National University.
Professor Lee... welcome back.
I also have Professor Peter Chin-Hong... at the University of California, San Francisco...
live on the line.
Professor Chin-Hong... it's a pleasure... to speak... with you... again.
1) Professor Lee...
South Korea's daily tally has soared... to levels...
last seen... over 3 months ago.
How high...
do you expect caseloads... to
rise... before...
they retreat?
2) Professor Chin-Hong... the U.S. is also... reliving... through a resurgence.
What can you tell us... about transmissions there... and the tallies... with regard to
critical cases... and
related fatalities?
3) And Professor Lee... how do you assess...
South Korea's tallies... with regard... to severity as well as fatality... and how do
they... compare... to the tallies... recorded...
during our previous wave?
4-1) Professor Chin-Hong... health authorities in the U.S. have recently recommended...
NOVAVAX's COVID-19 vaccine... for adults aged 18 and above.
I understand...
NOVAVAX uses... a more traditional...
familiar vaccine technology.
Do you care to elaborate?
4-2) Do you see this reality... ... as encouraging...
more people to seek COVID-19 vaccination?
5) Professor Lee...
there is talk... about the dominant BA.5 strain...
making patients...
test positive...
longer... despite the fact that the duration... of the symptoms... is shorter.
How do you explain...
this finding... and... does it mean... the patient is still contagious?
6) Professor Chin-Hong... there is also talk about... the incubation period... of BA.5...
being shorter.
Is this an accurate assessment?
7) Professor Lee... authorities here have confirmed...
at least four cases... of the OMICRON subvariant BA.
2.75... here on the local front.
What can you tell us about
this particular strain?
8) Professor Chin-Hong...
what efforts are being made... to contain...
this latest rebound... in the U.S.?
9) Professor Lee...
here in South Korea... authorities have spoken...
against...
re-instating social restrictions...
but they
have shared... recommendations... for high-risk facilities.
What would you care...
to add... with regard to containment efforts?
10) Professor Chin-Hong... there appears to be... no end
in sight...
with regard to the pandemic... but... can
we expect...
the severity
of the
symptoms... caused by
its
variants...
to fall... in the course of time?
All right.