S.Korea confirms 1st cases from Covid-19 variant

Seoul, Dec 28 (IANS) South Korea on Monday registered the country's first cases from a more transmissible Covid-19 variant detected in three people who returned from the UK, where the strain was discovered last week.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a statement that the three South Korean nationals who had stayed in London and arrived here on December 22 tested positive for the new Covid-19 strain, reports Xinhua news agency.The three people were confirmed to be infected when they took tests after arrival, and have been under quarantine.Four other South Koreans, who arrived here on November 8 and December 13 from Britain, also tested positive for the virus and have been under investigation to ascertain if they were infected with the new variant.Among them, one man in his 80s had posthumously tested positive. His three other family members were also infected with the virus.The new strain, found in Britain, is known to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the old one. South Korea announced a plan to suspend all flights from Britain between December 23 to 31.In the latest tally, the country reported 808 new cases, raising the total number of infections to 57,680. The daily caseload stayed below 1,000 for two days. Eleven more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 819.
--IANS ksk/