South Korean virus cases jumped again on Wednesday and the US military confirmed its first case among American soldiers based in the Asian country, with his case and many others connected to a southeastern city with a growing illness cluster.
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 216 of the 284 new cases were in Daegu, where the government has been mobilizing public health tools to contain the spread of the outbreak, and in neighbouring towns.
The US military said the 23-year-old soldier was in self-quarantine at his off-base residence. He had been based in Camp Carroll in a town near Daegu, and visited both Carroll and nearby Camp Walker in recent days, according to the statement.
South Korean authorities and US military health professionals were tracing his contacts to determine if other people may have been exposed.
About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression from North Korea. United States Forces Korea previously said a widowed dependent had the virus, the first case involving a USFK-related individual. South Korea’s 600,000-member military has reported 18 cases and quarantined thousands of soldiers as a precaution.
Bowling alleys, movie theatres and a golf course at four US bases were closed after the soldier’s case was confirmed, Colonel Edward Ballanco, commander of the US Army Garrison Daegu, said.
All restaurants at the bases, and at Camp George in Daegu, could now provide only takeout meals with soldiers and family members prohibited from dining there, he said.
“This is a setback, it’s true, there’s no getting around that, but it’s not the end of the war,” he said on a video message posted on Facebook.
“We are very well equipped to fight this thing off. I am certain that, that soldier that has tested positive, he’s on his way up to Camp Humphreys today, is going to get better medical care than anyone else in Korea who has the coronavirus.”
South Korea now has 1,261 confirmed infections of the virus and 11 fatalities from the COVID-19 illness it causes. The national government has been channelling medical personnel, protective suits and other supplies to Daegu, and there are concerns the local hospitals are being overwhelmed and fatigued doctors are becoming vulnerable to infections.
“This week will be critical in the fight to combat the illness,” Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun said at a meeting in Daegu City Hall to discuss quarantine efforts.