Seoul, (Samajweekly) Twenty-two more American service members have tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon their arrival in South Korea, the US Forces Korea (USFK) said on Tuesday.
The latest cases increased the total number of USFK-related infections to 225, most of whom tested positive upon their arrivals here, reports Yonhap News Agency.
In a statement, the USFK said that of the 22, 18 arrived at the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on American government chartered flights, and the remaining four reached Incheon International Airport on commercial flights.
Half of them tested positive on their first mandatory Covid-19 test prior to entering quarantine, and the other 11 were confirmed to have been infected on their second test required to exit quarantine.
The infected personnel were transferred to an isolation facility designated for Covid-19 patients at Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek and Kunsan Air Base located in Gunsan.
“Thorough cleaning of all transportation assets and quarantine rooms has been completed,” the USFK statement said.
“None of the new arrivals have interacted with anyone residing within USFK installations or the local community.”
The development comes as South Korea’s new virus cases rebounded to over 100 on Tuesday, snapping five consecutive days of a two-digit rise, as sporadic cluster infections continued across the nation and imported cases rose amid an eased social distancing scheme, reports Yonhap News Agency.
The country added 102 new cases, raising the total caseload to 24,805, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The death toll increased to 434 following the emergence of a new fatality.
