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The new coronavirus outbreak in South Korea is raging.

According to a report by Securities Times on the 13th, according to the latest data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA),In the first week of August, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 220 hospitals in South Korea reached 861, 5.8 times the number in the second week of last month, the highest level since early February this year. This number is a significant increase from 148 in the second week of July, 226 in the third week, and 475 in the fourth week.

Data showed that among South Korea's hospitalized patients in August, 65.2% were over 65 years old, and another 18.1% were between 50 and 64 years old.The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the use of oral treatment by high-risk patients increased 33 times from 1,272 in the fourth week of June to 42,000 in the last week of July.

This has put tremendous pressure on South Korea's medical system and even caused a shortage of related drugs. At the same time, with the start of the new semester and the arrival of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, experts predict that South Korea's current round of epidemics will peak in August and September this year.

The South Korean government is currently taking a series of measures to respond to the epidemic, including strengthening monitoring, ensuring the supply of medical resources, and planning to restart vaccination activities in October. In the face of this wave of epidemic, people should also take necessary preventive measures, including wearing masks, washing hands frequently, and maintaining social distance to reduce the risk of virus transmission.

On August 12, Sun Young-rae, director of the Infectious Disease Crisis Management Bureau of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press conference that the new coronavirus epidemic is spreading again, and the number of confirmed cases may continue to increase in the future, but the mortality rate is less than 0.1%, and the risk of the disease has been greatly reduced.

However, Sun Yinglai further stated that the current response mechanism is not a big deal, so there is no need to adjust the response level. South Korea lowered the response level of the new crown epidemic to the lowest level of "concern" in May this year.

In addition, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to expand the supply of new crown treatment drugs. In July this year, the CDC provided 76,043 doses of treatment drugs to health stations and pharmacies in cities and provinces across the country, an increase of 42 times and 103 times compared to May and June, respectively. Sun Yinglai said that the government has begun to purchase additional treatment drugs and plans to put them on the market within this month.

South Korea's latest wave of the outbreak was caused by the KP.3 subtype of the fast-spreading Omicron variant. Although the KP.3 strain accounted for only 0.3% of cases in April, that proportion soared to 39.8% by early July. As of July, the variant accounted for 45.5% of total cases.

According to relevant data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, the number of people infected with the new coronavirus has risen again worldwide in recent days.

According to the national novel coronavirus infection epidemic situation released by the China Centers for Disease Control on the 8th, in July, 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 203 new severe cases and 2 deaths. Among influenza-like cases, the positive rate of the new coronavirus continued to rise from 8.9% from July 1 to July 7 to 18.7% from July 22 to July 28. The proportion of viral infections such as influenza decreased in summer, while the number of people infected with the new coronavirus increased, and the proportion increased.

In addition, the latest overview of the province's statutory infectious disease epidemics in June and July 2024 released by the Guangdong Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the number of new coronavirus infections in Guangdong Province was 8,246 in June and 18,384 in July, an increase of more than 10,000 cases.

From the perspective of the secondary market, COVID-19-related drugs, testing and vaccine stocks suddenly attracted capital and rose across the board.

As of the closing of A-shares on August 12, the COVID-19 Specialty Drug Index (8841560.SW) rose 4.73%, Shutaishen rose 16.5%, and Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical hit the daily limit; vaccine company CanSino Biologics rose nearly 6%, and Watson Biopharma rose more than 4%; COVID-19 testing concept stocks Lanwei Medical, Cape Biopharm, and Daan Gene hit the daily limit, and Yangpu Medical rose 9%.

Currently, there are 6 oral COVID-19 drugs that have been approved for marketing in China, including two imported COVID-19 oral drugs (Paxlovid produced by Pfizer and Monovir produced by Merck), as well as Azvudine from Real Bio, Senotegravir Tablets/Ritonavir Tablets Combination Package from Innovent Biologics (trade name: Senoxin®), Deuterium Remdesivir Hydrobromide Tablets from Junshi Biosciences-U (trade name: Mindevi), and Leretegravir Tablets from Zhongsheng Biopharma (trade name: Leruiling).

Among them, Innovent Biologics said that the shipment volume of its anti-COVID-19 drug "Sinoxin" began to increase last month, and continued to grow this month. Last month, it was mainly in southern cities, such as Zhejiang and Yunnan, and Beijing and Shanghai also saw a significant increase. This month, shipments in northern cities began to increase.

However, some analysts pointed out that as the impact of the new coronavirus on society and the economy continues to decrease, the interference with the trend of related concept stocks may be relatively limited, so pay attention to the risk of capital speculation.

Daily Economic News, Securities Times, market data

Disclaimer: The content and data in this article are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Please verify before use. You will be responsible for your own risks if you act accordingly.

Daily Economic News