SEOUL – South Korea reported 2,109 more cases of COVID-19 variants for the past week, bringing the total number of such cases to 8,125, the health authorities said Tuesday. Among the new cases found since July 25, 240 were imported from overseas while the remaining 1,869 were locally transmitted, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The far higher number of local transmissions indicated the domestic spread of the variants. Of the new cases, 1,929 came from the Delta variant, 176 from Alpha, two from Beta, and two from Gamma.
Among the combined cases involving the variants, 4,912 came from the Delta variant, 3,045 from Alpha, 148 from Beta and 20 from Gamma. The four variants are believed to be more transmissible than the original one.
Meanwhile, the country confirmed the first two cases of the Delta plus variant, a subvariant of the Delta variant. The two cases were people infected with the Delta plus variant even after a full vaccination, according to the health authorities In the latest tally, South Korea reported 1,202 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, lifting the total number of infections to 202,203. The daily caseload hovered above 1,000 for 28 straight days.
Among the new cases, 50 were imported from overseas, raising the combined figure to 12,069. Enditem-(Xinhua)
