46 COVID-19 Cases Confirmed at Yeoncheon Military Base... Majority Are Breakthrough Infections

On the 30th, 2,564 new COVID-19 cases were reported, marking the highest number of daily cases for a week straight. Citizens who visited the temporary screening clinic set up at Seoul Station Plaza are waiting to get tested. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

A cluster infection occurred at a military unit in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, where 46 people tested positive for COVID-19. The majority of the cases were breakthrough infections despite having received the recommended number of vaccine doses.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 2nd, since the first confirmed case was reported at an army unit in Yeoncheon the previous day, a total of 46 people have tested positive for COVID-19 as of the afternoon of the same day.

Notably, among the 46 confirmed cases, 41, including the initial case, were identified as breakthrough infections. This accounts for 89.1% of all confirmed cases.

The remaining 5 individuals are known to have received only the first dose of the vaccine.

The initial confirmed case was a sergeant who took leave from the 16th to the 23rd of last month. He returned to the unit on the 24th and tested negative in the first polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test but was confirmed positive in the second test.

Subsequent testing of close contacts identified one additional sergeant who tested positive. According to a military official, the unit then conducted tests on all 184 personnel, excluding those on leave, as a preventive measure, resulting in 44 additional confirmed cases.

The Ministry of National Defense stated that most of the 46 confirmed cases are asymptomatic and the situation is stable.

The unit is controlling troop movements and conducting a joint epidemiological investigation with local governments and health authorities, and will take follow-up measures based on the results.

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