Celebrities self-quarantine after Lee Chan-won tests positive for COVID-19

After popular trot singer Lee Chan-won tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, celebrities who had come into contact with him were quickly tested and quarantined. How Lee got infected is unknown.

On Thursday morning, Lee’s agency New Era Project announced that the singer had tested positive and gone into self-quarantine.

“Currently, everyone associated with Lee Chan-won is being tested, and some have already finished testing and are in self-quarantine,” said New Era Project on Lee’s fan website Thursday.

Lee, who was among the top six singers on TV Chosun’s megahit trot audition show “Mister Trot,” has been on numerous television shows since the auditions ended in March, including the TV Chosun entertainment shows “Ppong School” and “Romantic Call Center.”

Since Lee was on the set of “Ppong School” on Tuesday, others appearing on the program -- including comedian Boom, winner of “Mister Trot” Lim Young-woong and runner-up Young Tak -- were tested Thursday, with everyone testing negative.

Celebrities on “Taste of Wife,” another TV Chosun program, had to be tested as well since Tuesday’s “Ppong School” shooting was carried out in collaboration with “Taste of Wife.” Comedians Park Myung-soo and Lee Hwi-jae tested negative, and so did Lee Ha-jung, Jang Young-ran, Hong Hyun-hee and Jason.

However, as all cast members on both programs were considered to have had close contact with Lee, each will go through a two-week self-quarantine.

Meanwhile, Seo Jang-hoon, singer Lee Juck and Yoon Jong-shin, who share the same stylist as Lee, went into self-quarantine Thursday as a precaution. Seo missed the shooting of popular JTBC entertainment show “Knowing Bros,” while Lee Juck only appeared remotely for a scheduled appearance on a radio program. The stylist and celebrities reported testing negative Friday.

So far, no additional celebrities have announced positive test results after coming into contact with Lee Chan-won, but the broadcast industry continues to be on high alert.

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)