More Korean celebrities have tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as South Korea battles the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which has become the dominant strain in the country.
K-pop girl group Momoland member JooE was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Feb. 1.
"JooE was diagnosed with COVID-19. On Jan. 31, she had a low fever so she underwent a PCR test, and was confirmed on Feb. 1,” said MLD Entertainment, Momoland’s agency.
The agency said JooE is fully vaccinated. She has mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is undergoing treatment.
In addition, two more members of K-pop boy band Drippin tested positive for COVID-19.
On Feb. 1, Woollim Entertainment, the group’s agency, said, "Drippin members Hwang Yun-seong and Joo Chang-uk were diagnosed with COVID-19 this morning.”
The agency said the two tested negative but they had symptoms of a sore throat An additional PCR test was conducted, which confirmed positive results.
Four members of Drippin now have COVID-19. Lee Hyeop and Cha Jun-ho earlier tested positive for COVID-19.
Upcoming girl group Viviz member SinB (formerly of GFriend) tested positive. Viviz members Eunha and Umji were earlier confirmed to have COVID-19. They will be releasing their debut album on Feb. 9.
On Jan. 31, Big Hit Music announced that BTS member Jimin tested positive for COVID-19 and underwent surgery for acute appendicitis.
Since Jan. 19, at least 43 Korean stars including the latest cases have been confirmed to have COVID-19. These include five members of The Boyz, five members of iKON and four members of Treasure.
South Korea recorded 18,343 new COVID-19 cases on Feb. 1 to bring the total confirmed cases to 864,042.
Health authorities announced that 80 percent of South Korea’s confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last week of January were Omicron variant cases.