South Korea has reported nearly 20,000 coronavirus infections involving people who tested positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated, health authorities said Wednesday.

There were 19,954 breakthrough cases out of more than 26.93 million people who have received the full-dose vaccine regimen, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Since the country's nationwide inoculation campaign began in late February, 36.7 million people, or 71.5 percent of the country's 52 million population, have been fully vaccinated.

The rate of breakthrough cases occurring in people in their 30s was the highest at 0.134 percent, with the rate decreasing among the elderly, the KDCA said.

The rate of breakthrough cases among those who have received jabs supplied by US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson came to 0.267 percent, trailed by AstraZeneca with 0.099 percent, Pfizer Inc. with 0.048 percent and Moderna with 0.005 percent.

The rate of breakthrough cases occurring is 0.0074 percent, and the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risk of becoming a breakthrough case, the authorities said. (Yonhap)of becoming a breakthrough case, the authorities said. (Yonhap)