(LEAD) USFK reports 1st coronavirus case at Camp Humphreys, total at 7

Defense 18:31 March 06, 2020

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES throughout with more info, latest figure)

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean employee of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) has tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of USFK-related infection cases to seven, the military said Friday.

The seventh patient marks the first coronavirus case reported at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, where the USFK headquarters is located.

She is now in isolation at her off-base residence in the central city of Cheonan, according to USFK.

She visited a cafe and a post exchange in the base on Feb. 26 and took leave until she came back to work on Thursday.

"The individual took the test yesterday, the results came back this morning," Garrison Commander Col. Michael Tremblay told a Facebook live briefing. "We back-traced everywhere she has been."

All the people who had direct contact with the patient are now in self-quarantine, he added.

USFK remains on "high" risk level peninsula-wide and is implementing all appropriate control measures to help mitigate the spread of the virus to protect the force, it added.

As of Friday, South Korea had reported 6,593 virus patients, including 42 deaths.