Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum urged South Koreans on Friday to minimize holiday travel and asked companies to show flexibility in letting people work from home amid a worsening fourth wave of COVID-19 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 the summer, the peak season for domestic travel.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,990 new COVID-19 infections for Thursday, having reported its highest daily count of 2,223 on Wednesday. From early July daily cases for the first time rose above 1,100, and have kept rising. The government has said the current wave of infections has not peaked yet.