Fears of malaria are growing in South Korea as the country is seeing an increase in the mosquito-borne disease.

According to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s Infectious Disease portal, a total of 509 cases of malaria have been reported so far this year. The figure amounts to a nearly fourfold increase compared to last year, when 193 malaria cases were reported during the first seven months of the year.

The number of total malaria cases here has not gone beyond 700 since 2011, when the number of malaria patients stood at 782.