South Korea reported the first two cases of the Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, becoming one of the countries after India to record a variant of the already dangerous and fast-spreading Delta.
Delta Plus cases were reported in a number of countries, including Britain, Portugal and India.
The cases were recorded amongst two patients jabbed with AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, said Lee Sang-won, head of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s epidemiological investigations team.
Delta Plus appears to differ only slightly from Delta in terms of its transmissibility or virulence, said Sang-won.
One of the two patients is a man in his 40s who tested positive on July 26 alongside his son.
Whether his son was also infected by the Delta Plus variant was reported to be “unclear,” according to Park Young-joon of the Korean Disease Control Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The other patient tested positive for the Delta Plus variant on his return from the United States on July 23 during an airport screening.
By September, South Korea hopes to vaccinate at least 36 million people.
“Korea needs to keep a close eye on the new variant, Delta Plus, for sure, but a separate analysis is necessary to know if it is capable of evading vaccines,” stated Chun Byung-chul, vice president of Korean Vaccine Society and infectious disease.
There is not yet evidence suggesting that Delta Plus makes the vaccine less effective. However, Indian experts said in July that the variant is of concern, warning that it moves faster than its original Delta strain.
Worries over the variant surfaced after studies showed it has the ability to stick faster to lung cells, undermining current respiratory treatment used worldwide to fight off infections.
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