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

A government official said Wednesday one of the two cases is a man in his 80s who died last Saturday and whose postmortem test showed he was carrying the COVID-19 virus. Health authorities have now confirmed he contracted the new variant. 

The man entered the nation on December 13 from Britain and was in self-quarantine when he suffered a cardiac arrest last Saturday. He was transported to the hospital where less than an hour after arrival he was pronounced dead. 

The man’s three other family members who entered the nation with him tested positive for COVID-19 but results are pending on whether they have the new variant. 

The second new case confirmed is a woman in her 20s who entered the nation from Britain after passing through the United Arab Emirates. 

With the latest figures, a total of five cases of the COVID-19 variant have been confirmed in the nation as of Wednesday morning. Earlier on Monday, the government confirmed that a family of three that entered the nation last Tuesday were infected with the new variant. 

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