S. Korea braces for rising variant cases, total nearing 2,500

South Korea has confirmed 267 more cases of four kinds of contagious variants of the new coronavirus, including 73 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant, health authorities said Monday.

The caseload of such infections reached 2,492, with the number of Delta cases tallied at 263, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Of the newly confirmed cases, there were 196 local infections and 71 imported cases.

Of them, 189 cases were the Britain-originated variant, followed by 73 from India, four from Brazil and one from South Africa, according to the KDCA.

Out of 3,435 South Korean nationals who have entered the country from India, 82 were confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus, the KDCA said.

Of them, 22 were infected with the Delta variant, which has posed a new threat in other countries, such as Britain and Israel, whose vaccination rates topped 50 percent.

The country has inoculated more than 15.29 million people, or more than 29 percent of its 51.3 million population, as of Monday after it launched its vaccination drive in late February.

To block the inflow of the new emerging strain from India, entrants from the country are mandatorily quarantined at state facilities for seven days before being put under self-quarantine depending on the results of virus tests. (Yonhap)