SEOUL • South Korea's daily count of coronavirus cases has topped 800, the highest in nearly six months, due to new cluster infections and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, officials said yesterday.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 826 cases, up from 762 the day before and the highest since Jan 7, when the country was grappling with a third wave of Covid-19.

Almost 81 per cent of the 765 locally transmitted cases came from the capital Seoul and its surrounding regions, KDCA data showed.

The government had said it would relax social distancing measures this month as daily new cases hovered around 500 and the vaccination drive accelerated.

But days before curbs on movement were to be eased, case numbers shot up and the authorities in Seoul and its surrounding areas extended restrictions for another week to next Wednesday.

"More than 80 per cent of new cases have come from the Seoul metropolitan area for a third straight day on the back of cluster infections from restaurants and private educational institutions," Interior and Safety Minister Jeon Hae-cheol told an intra-agency Covid-19 meeting.

The authorities are particularly concerned about a new outbreak traced to an English-language academy just outside the capital, with at least 242 cases, including those of the Delta variant, confirmed there.

REUTERS