Coronavirus cases in military reach 500 as 4 new patients reported

Two Army officers, one soldier and a civilian worker for the Navy tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of patients among military members to 500, the defense ministry said Tuesday.

One of the two officers in the central city of Gyeryong, where the Army headquarters are located, was confirmed to have been infected, and the other officer at the same unit also tested positive, according to the ministry.

Around 160 members of the unit underwent virus tests, and no additional cases have been reported up until 10 am Tuesday. Contact tracing is also under way, the ministry said.

The soldier in the city of Yangju, just north of Seoul, tested positive while being quarantined due to an earlier confirmed case on his base.

The civilian worker affiliated with a Navy unit in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, contracted the virus following his recent business trip to the greater Seoul area, the ministry said.

Currently, 898 service members are in isolation in accordance with the health authorities' guidelines, and the military has quarantined an additional 3,301 people under stricter antivirus schemes of its own as a preventive step, according to the ministry.

Nationwide, the country added 1,046 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,030 local infections, raising the total caseload to 58,725, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). (Yonhap)