ITZY’s Yeji tests positive for coronavirus

Yeji, a member of K-pop girl group ITZY, tested positive for the coronavirus Monday after Lia, the group’s management agency said, as the virus continued to spread fast across the country, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

“Yeji took a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) examination yesterday and received a positive result today,” JYP Entertainment said on the group’s official website for fans.

All members of the five-piece group took the first PCR test on Saturday to find out if any of them had the coronavirus, and only Lia was confirmed to be positive. Ryujin and Chaeryeong tested negative while Yeji and Yuna were examined again after receiving uncertain test results.

Yeji is fully vaccinated and is now treating herself at home without showing any symptoms, except mild fever, according to the agency.

Yuna, who took the second test together with Yeji, received a negative result.

Later in the day, boy group Kingdom’s Dann and all seven members of rookie boy group Tempest set to make its debut next week tested positive, according to their agencies.

The nine were the latest in a spate of infections among K-pop artists.

About 30 K-pop acts, including Epik High’s Tablo, Enhypen’s Sunoo and Seventeen’s Wonwoo, have been confirmed to be infected in the past one week. Also among them are 2AM’s Jo Kwon, Jeong Jin-woon and Lim Seul-ong; and CNBLUE’s Jung Yong-hwa.

On Monday, South Korea reported 54,619 new COVID-19 infections, with the number hovering above 50,000 for the fifth consecutive day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).