South Korea sees spike in COVID-19 cases amid vacations, spread of new variants

SEOUL: South Korea posted a sharp increase in its coronavirus cases on Wednesday (Aug 4) as it struggled to tame its fourth wave of infections amid the spread of new virus variants strains.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,725 cases for Tuesday, up by more than 500 from a day before, as more tests were conducted after the weekend.

Total infections rose to 203,926, with 2,106 deaths.

The daily tally hit a new high of 1,895 last week, partly fuelled by the more contagious Delta variant, with the fourth COVID-19 wave showing little signs of subsiding.

Health authorities were concerned that people travelled about 6.4 per cent more last week compared with the week before, or about 34 per cent more than in early January, in the regions beyond the capital Seoul and its neighbouring areas, largely for summer vacations.

"The movements in those regions have been increasing for three consecutive weeks," senior health official Lee Gi-il told a briefing. "There is fatigue from long periods of distancing, and it's a summer vacation season."

READ: South Korea on alert for new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant

The government tightened social distancing curbs last week across most of the country for two weeks ahead of the peak summer holiday period.

The KDCA said on Tuesday it had detected South Korea's first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first identified in India.

Only a handful of countries, including Britain, Portugal and India, have reported Delta Plus cases so far. Delta Plus is still being studied, but some scientists say it may be more transmissible.

READ: South Korea experts call for more COVID-19 curbs as young, unvaccinated people fuel surge

READ: South Korea announces COVID-19 vaccination plan for 18 to 49 year olds

Health authorities have said several major vaccines work against the Delta variant.

South Korea will begin taking reservations for vaccines from about 2 million priority groups among people aged 18 to 49 late on Wednesday, including those with disabilities, gyms and private education workers, delivery people, street cleaners and call centre employees.

Some 39.3 per cent of the country's 52 million population have received at least one shot as of Wednesday, while 14.2 per cent have been fully vaccinated, KDCA data showed.

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