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| The Ministry of Defense will restrict all enlistees from vacationing and staying outside their bases overnight, beginning Saturday. The decision was made during a meeting presided over by Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, center, at the ministry on Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
The Ministry of Defense is beefing up efforts to stop the deadly coronavirus from spreading further into barracks, after cases of infection were confirmed at the Army, Navy and Air Force.
From Saturday, the ministry will restrict all enlistees from vacationing or staying outside their bases.
"The decision is made in accordance with a meeting Thursday, presided over by Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo," a ministry official said Friday. The measure comes after three cases of infection were confirmed in the military —one each in the Army, Navy and Air Force — Friday, when the country's first coronavirus death was reported.
All three infected military personnel visited or contacted people from Daegu, where the number of cases increased sharply this week.
Many of the cases confirmed so far happened in Daegu or the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), a sailor, 22, showed symptoms of coughing after visiting his home in Daegu from Feb. 13 to 18 and returning to his Navy base on Jeju Island.
He has since been hospitalized.
In Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong Province, an Army officer was confirmed to have the virus and was taken to a military hospital.
It was the first coronavirus case in the country's central region.
The officer met his girlfriend in Daegu while on vacation. The girlfriend attends Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the same church attended by the country's 31st patient and is considered a "super spreader," according to KDCC officials.
An Air Force soldier serving in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong Province, was confirmed to have the virus and was transferred to a military hospital.
How he was infected is not yet known.
The Air Force Academy asked cadets remain in dorms to make sure they do not come into contact with outsiders, after a parent of a new cadet was infected with coronavirus.
The parent was from North Gyeongsang Province.
Korea confirmed its first coronavirus case on Jan. 20, after the outbreak started in Wuhan, China.
All military personnel who recently visited China have been subject to examination, as the minimum incubation period for the virus is about 14 days.
The military also set up a center for preventive measures and maintains a hotline with health authorities.
It has scaled down its participation in a multinational exercise in Thailand as the coronavirus continues to spread in Southeast Asia.
The 39th Cobra Gold exercise, co-sponsored by Thai and U.S. armed forces, is scheduled to be held from Feb. 26 through March 6.
The Korean Navy and the Marine Corps initially planned to send about 470 service personnel, eight assault amphibious vehicles and a naval ship.
It has decided to send only 30 personnel.
