South Korea confirms COVID-19 variant from arrivals from Britain
Daniel, 80, receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Champmaillot EHPAD (care homes and day centres for elderly people) in Dijon, central France, 27 December 2020 as France began a vaccine rollout against the Covid-19 disease. EU countries embarked on a vaccination campaign to defeat the 'nightmare' of Covid-19, as the growing spread of a new coronavirus variant intensified fears the pandemic could wreak further devastation. EPA-Yonhap
South Korea's health authorities on Monday confirmed the country's first cases of a more transmissible variant from three arrivals from Britain.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the South Korean nationals who came from Britain last week were confirmed to have the new COVID-19 strain.
British analysis suggests the new strain may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the old variant. The new variant is thought to have first occurred in mid-September in London.
Separately, an elderly South Korean man, who recently returned from Britain, has posthumously tested positive for COVID-19, with three of his family members confirmed to have contracted COVID-19.
A thorough investigation is ongoing to look into whether they were also infected with the new variant.
South Korea earlier announced that it will suspend flights arriving from Britain until the end of this year.
The country added 808 more COVID-19 cases on Monday, staying below 1,000 for the second straight day, according to the KDCA. (Yonhap)