South Korean health authorities say the new Omicron subvariant BA.5 could soon become the dominant COVID-19 strain in the nation. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said on Tuesday that 28-point-two percent of the COVID-19 cases reported in the past week through Saturday were identified as BA.5, two-point-seven times as many as there were a week earlier. 

By origin, 147 domestic cases, or 24-point-one percent of all local cases detected in the past week, and 38 imported cases, or 49-point-two percent of the overseas transmissions, involved BA.5. 

The KDCA said the variant has already become the dominant strain in the imported cases and there has been a notable increase among the domestic cases as well, raising concerns that it could soon become the dominant COVID subvariant in South Korea.

BA.5 is known to be more transmissible and better able to evade immunity from vaccines or previous infections than the currently dominant subvariant, BA.2.