South Korea on Monday became the latest country to detect the new coronavirus variant, as the pandemic showed no signs of letting up.Global infections have raced past 80 million with nearly 1.8 million deaths, even as vaccination drives gather pace in North America and Europe, with a top US expert warning that the pandemic might get even worse in the coming weeks.Also Read | Urgency to fix India’s bankruptcy codeThe explosion of cases worldwide in recent weeks has prompted the return of many unpopular restrictions, including some lockdowns, and concerns have grown after the detection of a new virus variant experts believe could be more transmissible.South Africa became the first African nation to log one million cases, official data showed.