South Korea s service output and retail sales suffered in the fourth quarter of last year, amid tightened social distancing measures.
According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, there was a decline in service output in the fourth quarter in all but one out of the country s 16 provinces and major cities.
Only Seoul saw a point-nine percent rise in service output, thanks to high real estate transactions with much of the industry concentrated in the capital region and a boom in the stock market. Strong performances in the insurance and finance industries also helped offset other setbacks caused by the pandemic. But retail sales were also down in almost all regions.
South Korea has reported 26 new cases of variant strains of COVID-19.
The health authorities said Tuesday that 24 people tested positive for the UK variant one was confirmed to have been infected with the South Africa variant and the other had the one from Brazil.
This raises the total number of variant cases to 80.
Of the cases reported on Tuesday, four were transmitted domestically.
These were of the UK strain and were linked to clusters that began with a Syrian person who arrived from the United Arab Emirates in late December. Four of the variant cases were domestic transmissions, and all of them were foreigners. They were found as tests were done on people who d been in contact with relatives of the cluster infections in Gyeongsangnam-do Province and Jeollanam-do Province.