Concerns growing over spread of COVID-19 variants
Quarantine officials wearing protective clothes guide passengers in the arrivals area of Incheon International Airport, Feb. 3. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe health authorities are raising the alarm over the growing number of infections here from COVID-19 variants that are believed to be transmitted faster. As domestic transmission of the variants has been confirmed, and the number of people from countries with the variants coming to Korea is growing, experts say vaccination should begin immediately, starting with key groups, including medical workers and the elderly.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 12 new variant cases, Sunday raising the total of such cases to 51. Of them, 37 people were infected with the variant first detected in the United Kingdom, nine were linked to the South African variant, and five were infected with the Brazil variant. People with the variants did not all come from those three countries but from 18 ― the U.K., Brazil, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nigeria, Hungary, Iraq, France, China, Poland, Syria, Ghana, Tanzania,
Feb 7, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji