Yeonjun, a member of K-pop boy band Tomorrow X Together (TXT), has tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Feb. 17 while members of girl groups (G)I-DLE and Cherry Bullet are awaiting to confirm their positive results.
“Yeonjun had felt unwell including having a headache on Saturday the 12th and took the PCR test after visiting the hospital of which came back negative,” Big Hit Music announced on Feb. 17.
It added, “Since then, he went into preemptive quarantine away from the other members. He later started to present other mild symptoms such as a mild fever and sore throat, and took another PCR test on Wednesday the 16th, and was diagnosed with COVID-19 this morning .”
Yeonjun, the agency said, is fully vaccinated “and is not presenting any extraordinary symptoms other than a mild fever and sore throat. He is currently undergoing treatment at home while waiting for further guidelines from the health care authorities.”
“None of the Tomorrow X Together members other than Yeonjun are presenting any symptoms, and everyone received negative results from the self-tests they took today,” it said.
It added, “The company places the artists’ health as our top priority, and we will do everything we can to aid Yeonjun in his speedy recovery. We will also diligently cooperate with the requests and guidelines of the health care authorities.”
Meanwhile, Korean TV personality and baseball player Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays tested positive for COVID-19 through a PCR test on Feb. 17 after getting a positive result using a self-test kit on Feb. 16.
(G)I-DLE’s Miyeon and Cherry Bullet’s Haeyoon have also tested positive for COVID-19 using self-test kits.
Cube Entertainment said Miyeon was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Feb. 17 using the kit and is awaiting the result of her PCR test. As a result, she did not appear as emcee of the TV music show “M Countdown.”
FNC Entertainment announced that Haeyoon tested positive through the self-test kit on the morning of Feb. 17.
She is also waiting for her PCR test result. The agency said Haeyoon has received her booster shot.
Cravity member Wonjin also tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the eight member of the K-pop boy band to get the virus.
More than 100 Korean celebrities have tested positive for COVID-19 since Jan. 19.
Among the recent positive cases are BTS’ V, ITZY’s Chaeryeong, AB6IX’s Park Woo-jin, Korean actor Lee Seung-gi, K-pop boy band ATEEZ’s San, BTOB’s Eunkwang, Weeekly’s Lee Soojin, comedian Kim Ji-min, comedian Moon Se-yoon and TV host Kim Seong-joo.
South Korea is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant. On Feb. 17, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said 93,135 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded to bring the total confirmed cases to 1,645,978.