SEOUL – South Korea has confirmed 2,899 more cases of four major contagious variants of the new coronavirus over the past week, including 2,874 of the highly transmissible delta variant, health authorities said today.
The caseload of such infections reached 16,842 here, with the number of delta cases, first reported in India, tallied at 13,454, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The tally indicates that the delta variant is becoming the dominant strain of Covid-19 here, making it more difficult for health authorities to curb the spread of new infections, Yonhap news agency reported.
The delta variant is behind a recent spike in infections in Seoul and its neighbouring areas, while showing signs of spreading much faster into the rest of the country.
Health authorities said the country will witness more cases of the variants down the road.
Today, the country added 1,509 more Covid-19 cases, including 1,470 local infections, raising the total caseload to 239,287, according to the KDCA.
To block the inflow of the new emerging strain from India, entrants from the country are mandatorily quarantined at state facilities for seven days before being put under self-quarantine, depending on the results of virus tests. – Bernama, August 24, 2021
