WASHINGTON– The United States has raised its travel advisory for South Korea by a notch to Level 2 that tells its people to exercise increased caution when traveling to the Asian country, the latest update showed Tuesday.

The revision, the first of its kind for South Korea since early June, follows a recent surge in COVID-19 infections in South Korea.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 2 Travel Health Notice for South Korea due to COVID-19, indicating a moderate level of COVID-19 in the country,” the State Department said in its latest update, posted Monday.

The department noted the risk of contracting COVID-19 may be lower if those traveling are fully vaccinated.

The U.S. had kept its travel advisory for South Korea at the lowest Level 1 since June 9.

South Korea had been considered an exemplary case in dealing with the pandemic until it began to see a spike in new cases due to delayed vaccination of its people, largely caused by a vaccine shortage, as well as the global spread of the more contagious delta variant of the new coronavirus.

The country’s daily caseload has remained over 1,000 since July 7, with its total infection cases coming to 201,203 as of Tuesday (Seoul time).

So far, only about 7 million people, or around 14 percent of its 58 million population, have been fully vaccinated.

Source: Yonhap News Agency