The spread of the virus has accelerated as the highly transmissible Delta variant has become the dominant strain in the country, and authorities' contact tracing has been unable to keep track of transmissions over peak summer season for domestic travel.
. From early July daily cases for the first time rose above 1,100, and have kept rising. The government has said the current wave of infections has not peaked yet.Kim called on the public to minimise travels and gatherings in the next three days and urged those returning from holiday destinations to get tested for COVID-19 especially before clocking in for work.
Priority vaccinations for the elderly helped the country to keep its mortality rate low at 0.97% as of Thursday, but severe and critical COVID-19 patients have been on the rise, prompting authorities toA government delegation led by Vice Health Minister Kang Do-tae left for Boston for talks with Moderna Inc
On Monday Moderna informed South Korea that it would only be able to deliver less than half the 8.5 million doses it had been due to ship in August.South Korea has a contract for 40 million doses from Moderna, and has received around 2.5 million so far.