Fourth case of BA.2.75 Covid-19 variant confirmed in Korea

People wait in line to get tested for Covid-19 at a testing center in Mapo District, western Seoul, Monday. [YONHAP]

A fourth confirmed case of the BA.2.75 variant, known as Centaurus, was found in Korea Monday. The Centaurus variant is known to be more resistant to immunity than its predecessors.

The first confirmed case of Centaurus in Korea was confirmed on July 14, in a patient in his 60s in Incheon who had no recent overseas travel history. The second case was found last Thursday, in a foreigner living in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, who had arrived from India on July 5. The third confirmed case was found in a man in his 50s living in Incheon who had received his third round of inoculation.

The fourth patient confirmed with Centaurus made contact with the second confirmed patient at the airport when the second patient arrived from India, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Monday.

BA.2.75 has eight more spike protein mutations compared to the BA.2 variant or Stealth Omicron, which means that it binds to cells more effectively and evades antibodies formed by vaccines. It appears to spread even faster and evade vaccine-acquired immunity better than BA.5, which is now the dominant variant in Korea.

The Centaurus variant was first discovered in India in May this year and has been spreading rapidly throughout Europe and the United States.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]