A total of 190 cases of the Delta or Indian coronavirus variant have been found in Korea so far. That is still a small number compared to other countries, but the variant is more contagious than earlier strains and could spread fast because of the glacial pace of vaccination here.
Cases of the new variant have been found in 92 countries and those of the even more infectious Delta Plus variant in 10 countries.
The variant spread so quickly in the U.K. that the number of new coronavirus cases, which had dropped to about 1,000 per day, jumped to nearly 20,000. Some 41 cases of the Delta Plus strain have also been found there.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control predicts that the Delta variant will account for 90 percent of all new cases in the EU by late August.
China is also on the alert. In Guangzhou in late May, Chinese health authorities concluded that a man was infected with the variant a mere 14 seconds after he spent time with a carrier in a restaurant restroom. Another man was infected the same way in only 45 seconds, both without direct physical contact.
"It's a matter of time before the Delta variant will become the dominant strain in our country, too," said Jung Jae-hun of Gachon University's Gil Medical Center. "The government needs to slow down the easing of lockdown restrictions."
Jung Ki-suck of Hallym University said, "It's important to prevent the spread of the Delta variant until late November," when 70 percent of the population are vaccinated and herd immunity is achieved.
The government plans to tighten on arrivals at airports. "We're going to tighten checks on travelers from countries where the Delta variant is running rampant," said Jeong Eun-kyeong, the chief of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
The government also said it is considering booster vaccine shots to increase immunity.
The Delta variant is thought to be 2.7 times more contagious than the first strains and 1.6 times more contagious than the Alpha or U.K. variant.
The Delta Plus variant, which has started spreading recently in 11 countries like India and the U.K. carries a protein mutation called K417N and is even more contagious than the Delta variant, possibly avoiding antibodies. "The Delta Plus variant hasn't been found in Korea yet, but we'll continue monitoring," Jeong said.
Meanwhile, the daily tally of new infections stood at 634 as of Friday morning, over 600 for the fourth day in a row.
