South Korea reports 1,600 new COVID-19 cases

The country tightened social distancing rules across most of the country on Wednesday, when it reported a record number of 1,615 infections, to tackle its worst-ever outbreak of coronavirus. Outbreaks had previously been largely centred in the capital Seoul and neighbouring areas, but cases have spread to non-metropolitan areas, adding to worries about the highly contagious Delta variant and a slowing vaccine rollout. So far, South Korea has recorded 173,511 cases and 2,050 deaths.

South Korea reported 1,600 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a slight drop from the record number the previous day, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country tightened social distancing rules across most of the country on Wednesday, when it reported a record number of 1,615 infections, to tackle its worst-ever outbreak of coronavirus.

Outbreaks had previously been largely centred in the capital Seoul and neighbouring areas, but cases have spread to non-metropolitan areas, adding to worries about the highly contagious Delta variant and a slowing vaccine rollout. So far, South Korea has recorded 173,511 cases and 2,050 deaths. Only 30.8% of its 52 million people have received at least one dose of a vaccine.