South Korea on alert for new Delta Plus Covid-19 variant

On Tuesday, the Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said South Korea has detected its first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, as the country battles its fourth wave of infections.

The Delta Plus variant is a sub-strain of the Delta variant first identified in India, and has acquired a spike protein mutation called K417N, which was also found in the Beta variant first identified in South Africa. Read more

Reports of cases of Delta Plus have been few, and a few countries, including Britain, Portugal, and India, have reported some cases.

“The first case (in South Korea) has been identified, a man in his forties who does not have recent travel records,” the agency told Reuters. The source of the transmission is under investigation.

Park Young-joon, an official with the Disease Control and Prevention Authority (KDCA), said that only his son had tested positive for about 280 people who had been in contact with the man.

Park said it was unclear if the son also had Delta Plus.

The second case was found in a traveler who had returned from the United States. Park said the person had been vaccinated with both AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shots prior to the flight.

Health authorities have said that several major vaccines work against the highly contagious delta variant, which is already prevalent in many countries, but has raised concerns about new strains that may evade some vaccines. Read more

KDCA data showed that genetic analysis of 3,014 infections last week found that 64% were delta-types, a clear sign that the variant has become the dominant strain in South Korea as well. Cases among those fully vaccinated remained low.

Some scientists have said that the Delta Plus variant may be more transmissible. Studies are underway in India and globally to test the effectiveness of vaccines against this mutation.

South Korea reported 1,202 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total to 20,203, with 2,104 deaths.

On Tuesday, the country said it has given 20 million people, or 39% of its population, at least one dose of the vaccine, while 14.1% have been fully vaccinated.

South Korea aims to vaccinate at least 36 million people by September.

Agencies