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SEOUL: South Korean officials promise to accelerate efforts to launch a public COVID-19 vaccination program, as the country announced on Monday (December 28) that it had detected its first cases of the coronavirus variant linked to rapidly increasing infections. in Great Britain.
The new variant, believed to be more communicable than others currently circulating, was found in three people who entered South Korea from London on Dec. 22, the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA) said on Monday. ).
They have been placed in isolation since testing positive for COVID-19 upon arrival, the KDCA said.
The new strain of coronavirus emerged earlier this month in Britain and has already reached several European countries, as well as Canada, Jordan and Japan.
The new strain, which experts fear is more contagious, prompted more than 50 countries to impose travel restrictions on Britain. South Korea was among them and has banned flights from Britain until the end of the year.
South Korean authorities are also investigating the case of an elderly South Korean man who posthumously tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from Britain earlier this month.
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Overall, the KDCA reported 808 new cases as of midnight Sunday, the lowest level since a record 1,241 infections were recorded on Friday.
Authorities warned that the drop could be due to fewer tests being conducted over the weekend and Christmas holidays, and said Sunday they would extend social distancing measures until early January.
The South Korean government has faced mounting national criticism for its vaccine procurement and deployment plans, which require the first vaccines to begin in the first quarter of next year, months after from places like the United States and the European Union.
Negative views on vaccination plans were one of the main reasons that pushed President Moon Jae-in’s disapproval rate to an all-time high of nearly 60 percent, pollster Realmeter said Monday.
Regulators will shorten the period required to approve vaccines and treatments from an average of 180 days to just 40 days, the Food and Drug Safety Ministry announced on Sunday.
An additional approval process for the distribution and sale of vaccines, which generally takes several months, will be shortened to about 20 days, the ministry said.
Medical workers and elderly residents will begin receiving vaccines in February, and plans to vaccinate the general public are accelerating, Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min said on Sunday.
READ: How South Korea’s Early COVID-19 Success Left It Struggling To Contain A New Wave
“The government is doing everything it can to move forward in this time frame and it is also making progress,” he said.
South Korea has said it plans to buy enough doses to eventually vaccinate 46 million people, or more than 85 percent of its population.
Noh said authorities expected the South Korean population to reach a level of herd immunity through vaccines as fast or faster than many other countries.
South Korea has reported a total of 57,680 coronavirus cases, with 819 deaths.
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