South Korea Detects 2 Cases of New Delta Plus COVID-19 Variant

People wait in line for COVID-19 test at a testing site which is temporarily set up at a public health center in Seoul, South Korea, on July 9, 2021. Heo Ran/Reuters

SEOUL—South Korea has detected its first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Tuesday, as the country battles with its fourth wave of infections.

The Delta Plus variant is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first identified in India, and has acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N, which is also found in the Beta variant first identified in South Africa.