Oct. 26 (UPI) -- United States Forces Korea said Monday that 13 service members have tested positive for COVID-19.
The 13 service members tested positive after arriving in South Korea between Oct. 9 and Oct. 22, according to USFK.
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Oct. 26 (UPI) -- United States Forces Korea said Monday that 13 service members have tested positive for COVID-19. The 13 service members tested positive after arriving in South Korea between Oct. 9 and Oct. 22, according to USFK.
Eight arrived at Osan Air Base on U.S government chartered flights from the United States and five of them arrived on international commercial flights at Incheon International Airport.
All USFK-affiliate individuals arriving in South Korea from overseas undergo COVID-19 testing, quarantine for 14 days and must pass a second test with negative results before leaving quarantine under the USFK COVID-19 prevention control measures.
USFK health professionals said that contract tracing for the 13 service members recently diagnosed was limited since the service members were tested upon arrival and immediately quarantined.
Five of the 13 service members tested positive prior to entering quarantine and eight tested positive on a subsequent test while in quarantine, according to USFK.
USFK said all of them have since been transferred to an isolation facility for confirmed COVID-19 cases at Camp Humphreys with thorough cleaning of all transportation assets and quarantine rooms completed.
Earlier this month, USFK confirmed 22 service members COVID-19 diagnosis after recently arriving.
"Despite the recent confirmed cases, USFK remains at high level of readiness with less than 1% of its active duty service members currently confirmed positive with COVID-19," USFK said Monday in a statement.
The U.S. Department of Defense has reported 80,100 cases of COVID-19 among military, civilian, dependent and contractor employees, including 1,641 hospitalizations and 104 deaths.
According to the Defense Department figures, 53,667 of the 80,100 infected have since recovered from the coronavirus.
In the military alone, there have been 54,681 cases, 736 hospitalized, 36,868 recovered and eight deaths to date from COVID-19, the same figures show.