South Koreans urged to work from home and minimise holiday travel as fourth wave grows; Thailand confirms 23,418 new infections in 24 hours
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Thailand reported 23,418 new coronavirus infections on Friday, a record increase for a second day in a row, bringing the total accumulated cases to 863,189, as the country deals with its biggest outbreak to date.
The country also suffered 184 new deaths, taking total fatalities to 7,126.
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum urged people on Friday to minimise holiday travel and asked companies to show flexibility in letting people work from home amid a worsening fourth wave of Infections and a shortage of vaccines in the country.
The spread of the virus has accelerated as the highly transmissible Delta variant has become the dominant strain in the country, and authorities’ contact tracing has been unable to keep track of transmissions over peak summer season for domestic travel.