'Group Infection' Cheonghae Unit Members Return Home by Transport Plane

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The 34th Cheonghae Unit members, who returned early due to a cluster infection of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), arrived in Korea on the afternoon of the 20th.

The Ministry of National Defense announced that the first multipurpose aerial refueling transport aircraft (KC-330) carrying the 34th Cheonghae Unit soldiers arrived at Seongnam Seoul Airport around 5:30 p.m. that day.

The first aircraft carried 160 confirmed cases, including 16 patients who had been hospitalized at a local hospital in Africa, and the remaining 141 people, including 87 mild or asymptomatic confirmed cases and 54 unconfirmed cases (including 4 undetermined), will soon arrive on the second transport aircraft. In total, there are 301 people, all members of the 34th Cheonghae Unit.

Their return comes five days after the first confirmed cases (based on the reporting date) of six people occurred on the Munmu the Great-class destroyer (4,400 tons) of the 34th Cheonghae Unit operating in the African waters on the 15th. The 34th unit, deployed in the Gulf of Aden in Africa, originally planned to rotate missions locally next month and return around October, but the unprecedented COVID-19 cluster infection accelerated the schedule by nearly three months.

On the Munmu the Great, out of the total 301 crew members, 247 (82.1%) have been confirmed positive through local polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests so far, while 50 tested negative and 4 were undetermined. However, since all crew members were unvaccinated and stayed in the ship's '3密' (close contact, crowded, enclosed) environment vulnerable to infectious diseases, and considering the varying incubation periods of COVID-19 among individuals, additional confirmed cases may emerge.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) stated regarding the symptoms and post-arrival measures of the Cheonghae Unit members, "After arriving in the country, a total of 14 people will be transferred to medical institutions."

Earlier in the morning briefing, the CDSCH said that 12 confirmed cases identified as moderate or higher severity were transferred to two hospitals for treatment, and the remaining 289 were scheduled to go to residential treatment centers, indicating an increase in the number of patients requiring hospital treatment compared to the initial explanation. The soldiers will receive treatment dispersedly at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, the Defense Language Institute Residential Treatment Center, and others according to their PCR test results.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.