SEOUL– South Korea’s labor minister and top financial regulator have tested positive for COVID-19 amid the fast spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant, government officials said Monday.
Labor Minister An Kyung-duk was confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus Sunday and has become the first Cabinet member testing positive for the virus.
Koh Seung-beom, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, is also in self-quarantine at home, as he tested positive for the virus earlier in the day.
They were infected with the virus even though they have received booster shots. They have been telecommuting at home, as they are all known to have few or mild symptoms.
Second Finance Vice Minister Ahn Do-geol tested positive for the virus last week.
South Korea’s daily virus cases exceeded 35,000 for the third straight day Monday amid the raging wave of the omicron variant.
The country reported 35,286 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total to 1,044,963, according to health authorities.
The number of new COVID-19 patients could possibly reach between 130,000 and 170,000 by the end of this month, as omicron has become the country’s dominant strain, they said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency