S.Korea reports 1,540 COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated people

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea confirmed a total of 1,540 "breakthrough" COVID-19 infections, which refer to people who tested positive after a full vaccination, the health authorities said Tuesday.

People in Seoul wait for their turn to receive COVID-19 vaccine on August 8. (File photo: AFP)

The number of the fully vaccinated people who were infected with COVID-19 was 1,540 as of Aug. 5, up from 1,132 a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It equals to 23.6 in every 100,000 people. As of Aug. 5, the number of the fully inoculated people was 6,516,203.

It is known that people can be protected from the virus two weeks after the full vaccination. The breakthrough case refers to people infected with the virus two weeks after the full inoculation.

Among the total, 221 were infected with the Delta variant, 24 with Alpha, one with Beta and one with Gamma.

Fifteen were serious cases, and two deaths were found from the breakthrough infections.

The KDCA said the breakthrough infections can be found from all COVID-19 vaccines, noting that benefit from the vaccination remains large as the inoculation lowers the serious cases and death.

In the latest tally, South Korea reported 1,540 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, lifting the total number of infections to 213,987. The daily caseload hovered above 1,000 for 35 straight days.