A death from whooping cough or pertussis has been reported in South Korea for the first time since the government began compiling related data in 2011.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) on Tuesday, an infant less than two months old died from the disease on November 4.

The baby had not been vaccinated and was diagnosed with the disease on October 31 after experiencing persistent cough and phlegm.

Amid worldwide transmission of the respiratory bacterial infection, the number of whooping cough patients in the country rose to 30-thousand-332 as of the first week of November, as compared with 292 reported in all of last year.

Children and young people aged between seven and 19 accounted for 87-point-seven percent of all cases.

The KDCA urged pregnant women to get vaccinated to ensure their newborns gain immunity, and also to have their families and caregivers protect infants until the babies are two months old, the age when they can normally be inoculated.