Half of Confirmed Cases Are Delta Variant... "Could Exceed 90%"

Explosive Spread, Accelerated Dominant Variant Period

On the 27th, when the dual hardships of the COVID-19 surge and heatwave were rampant, Tongin Market in Jongno-gu, Seoul was quiet. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] As one in two domestic COVID-19 confirmed cases is infected with the 'Delta' variant, experts have warned that by the end of next month, the Delta variant could account for up to 90% of all cases.

According to the quarantine authorities on the 27th, the Delta variant was detected in 48.0% of domestic COVID-19 confirmed cases over the past week (June 18?24), and it is expected to exceed 50% this week. The detection rate of the Delta variant was only 3.3% in the fourth week of June (June 20?26), but it has explosively increased within a month.

In particular, it is highly likely that the Delta variant has become the dominant strain amid the recent surge of COVID-19 cases outside the metropolitan area.

Initially, authorities anticipated the Delta variant to become dominant in August, but this has effectively been brought forward by nearly a month. The India-origin Delta variant is 1.64 times more transmissible than the UK-origin 'Alpha' variant, and the risk of hospitalization among confirmed cases is 2.26 times higher.

Professor Jeong Ki-seok of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital (former director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency) emphasized, "If this trend continues, the Delta variant will account for 90% of all cases by the end of August," adding, "With the Delta detection rate increasing by 10 percentage points per week domestically, we must tighten quarantine measures even further."

Meanwhile, as of midnight on the same day, the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases was 1,365, marking the third consecutive week of four-digit figures. Notably, 505 cases were reported outside the metropolitan area, accounting for nearly 40% of domestically transmitted cases.