K-pop boy band Seventeen The 8 tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the seventh member of the group to catch the disease in three weeks.
Pledis Entertainment made the announcement on March 7.
“We would like to provide you with some information on Seventeen member The 8 being diagnosed with Covid-19 as well as adjustments in his activities,” it said.
The agency said, “The 8 was tested negative on the self-test kit on Saturday, March 5. However, as he experienced a very mild cough, The 8 preemptively took a PCR test on Saturday, March 5 and was confirmed with Covid-19 on the morning of Monday, March 7. The 8 is currently not exhibiting any symptoms and is administering self-treatment at home.”
“All Seventeen members other than S.Coups, Hoshi, Wonwoo, DK, Seungkwan and Vernon all preemptively took self-test kits on Sunday, the 6th, which all the results came back as negative and are not exhibiting any symptoms. Therefore, it would be difficult for The 8 to take part in Seventeen’s activities for a while. We will provide you with updates on his activity resumption,” the agency said.
From Feb. 12 to March 7, seven out of the 13 members of Seventeen tested positive for Covid-19.
Members DK, Seungkwan and S.Coups were diagnosed with Covid-19 on March 5. Hoshi tested positive for the disease on March 3.
Vernon was confirmed to have Covid-19 on Feb. 25 and fully recovered on March 3. Wonwoo tested positive for Covid-19 on Feb. 12 and recovered on Feb. 18.
More than 190 Korean stars, mostly K-pop idols, have tested positive for Covid-19 since Jan. 19.
The Covid-19 infections among Seventeen prompted Pledis Entertainment to postpone the group’s special live meeting event with fans scheduled on March 7.
“We would like to provide you with some information on the tentative postponement of the Seventeen Carat Membership special live meeting event,” agency Pledis Entertainment announced on March 6.
It said, “The event, which was scheduled to be held on Monday, March 7, will be rescheduled as Seventeen members S.Coups, Hoshi, DK and Seungkwan have been confirmed with Covid-19 and are under quarantine.”
“After careful consideration and long discussions as to whether we should hold the event as we promised Carat, we concluded to tentatively postpone it to a later date as the artists’ health and safety are our top priority.
South Korea is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
On March 7, South Korea recorded 210,716 new Covid-19 cases to bring the total confirmed cases to 4.66 million.