S. KOREA REPORTS 1,725 NEW CASES

[Anchor Lead]

As of yesterday, 1,725 cases were reported in Korea. That is 28th straight day of cases in four digits. Even worse, Korea saw its fist case of the delta plus variant as the delta variant spreads quickly across the nation. Two delta plus cases are both breakthrough infections that occurred in the individuals vaccinated fully with the AstraZeneca shots.

[Pkg]

1,725 new COVID-19 cases were reported in South Korea. 500 more than the day prior as weekday testing began to show results. There were some 2,100 new cases of COVID-19 variants in the past week. Among them, around 1,900 were of the delta variant. Two infections of the delta plus were found as well. One is a man in his 40s with no overseas travel history.

[Soundbite] Park Young-jun(Epidemiological Investigation Team, Central Disease Control HQs) : "No prior case has been specified. We’re looking into the possibility of exposure to the variant in local communities."

The other is a man in his 50s who entered the country from the United States on July 23rd. They are both breakthrough infections, as the two have been vaccinated fully with the AstraZeneca shots. A total of 1,132 breakthrough infections were reported so far. Eight are in serious or critical condition while one has died. The overall COVID-19 fatality rate is 1.04%, but breakthrough infection has a lower fatality rate at 0.09% because individuals have been vaccinated. There's been 28 straight days of four digit daily tally, and the number of patients in serious or critical condition is growing. The most adversely affected age groups are those in their 40s and 50s. The number of seriously ill patients and the deceased in those populations have jumped more than five times in just a month. Meanwhile, the 60-and-older population with a high vaccination rate saw fewer cases developing serious symptoms.

[Soundbite] Lee Sang-won(Epidemiological Investigation Analysis, Central Disease Control HQs) : "Variants are known to speed up transmission and undermine vaccination effects, but that doesn’t negate the role of vaccines. Vaccination clearly prevents worsening of conditions and lowers fatality."

In a survey on COVID-19 awareness, the Ministry of Health and Welfare asked respondents how long the current level 4 distancing measures should last. 20.5% of the respondents said until the end of August and 25.1% until the end of September.