South Korea accelerates Covid vaccine plan as it detects first case of UK variant

South Korean administration is facing criticism over delay in roll out of Covid-19 vaccination programme

Visitors look at a playground, which is taped off for the social distancing measures, to control the spread of coronavirus at a park in Seoul, South Korea. (AP)

South Korea is looking to accelerate its plan to launch the Covid-19 vaccination plan for its population as it reported the first case of the more infectious coronavirus variant first found in the UK.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Monday said that the new variant was found in three people who had entered South Korea from London on 22 December.  

On 19 December, the UK prime minister Boris Johnson had revealed information about a new Covid-19 variant which is about 70 per cent more transmissible. Within days of the announcement last week, several countries across Europe and other parts of the world announced a ban on flights from the UK.

South Korea was among them and had banned those flights till 31 December. The administration is now reportedly extending the ban on direct flights from Britain for another week until 7 January and will require any passengers arriving from Britain or South Africa to undergo testing before departure.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), South Korea has recorded 56,872 cases including 808 deaths since the start of the pandemic. About one third of its total cases have been recorded in the last month including 1,241 on 25 December – the highest in a single day so far.

The South Korean government has been facing severe criticism over its plans to roll out a Covid-19 vaccination programme, which lags behind the US, the UK, several countries in Europe and others. In the UK, more than 600,000 people have already received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. 

On Monday, South Korean president Moon Jae-in said that medical workers and elderly residents will begin receiving the vaccinations in February while adding that plans to vaccinate the broader public are accelerating.  

“There are concerns that our country hasn’t secured enough vaccines or that the vaccinations will be delayed. This is not true. We are making efforts to advance the timeline for adopting vaccines,” said President Moon, according to a statement.  

On Sunday, the South Korea’s ministry of food and drug safety said that regulators will shorten the period required to approve vaccines and treatments from an average of 180 days to as little as 40 days.  

The ministry emphasised that an additional approval process for the distribution and sale of vaccines, which usually takes several months, will also be shortened to around 20 days.

Additional reporting by agencies