Ninth USFK employee tests positive for coronavirus

A Korean employee of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) stationed in the southeastern city of Daegu has tested positive for the new coronavirus, Covid-19, bringing the total number of USFK-related infection cases to nine, the military said Tuesday.

The patient, who works at Camp Walker, is now in isolation at her off-base residence, USFK said, adding that authorities are “actively conducting contact tracing to determine whether anyone else may have been exposed.”

Daegu has been the heart of Korea’s coronavirus outbreak, with the number of patients in the city skyrocketing due to a cluster of infections centered in the Shincheonji religious sect.

The USFK remains at risk level “high” peninsula-wide and is implementing all appropriate control measures to help mitigate the spread of Covid-19 to protect the force, it said.

Amid mounting concerns over the new coronavirus, the U.S. Department of the Army has ordered its soldiers and their families to stop movement to and from Korea until early May.

Yonhap