The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) has reported five cases involving variant strains of COVID-19 that were contracted in South Korea on Wednesday.  

Following the development, authorities are double checking oversight of people who came in contact and stepping up related monitoring.

The agency said it was only a matter of time before the new strains spread in the country and that contact with people who recently arrived from abroad must be kept to a minimum.

Four of the five patients are infected with the U.K. variant and are known to have visited the homes of relatives who were placed under self-isolation in South Gyeongsang and South Jeolla provinces. 

The other person contracted the South African variant, also from a family member who traveled abroad.

The five new cases raise South Korea's caseload of variants to 39 so far.