South Korea has confirmed its first cases of the COVID-19 variant that prompted new lockdown measures in Britain and global travel restrictions. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said on Monday that the virus variant was detected in samples from three people who entered the country from Britain. 

The three are reportedly a family who arrived from London last Tuesday. 

Health authorities are also conducting tests on samples from another family of four who also arrived from Britain recently. 

One of the four, a man in his 80s, died on Saturday and a postmortem test showed he was carrying the COVID-19 virus. Health authorities are trying to confirm if he had contracted the new variant. 

The variant, first found in Britain, is reportedly 70 percent more transmissible than existing strains.