South Korea reported another confirmed case of the new coronavirus Sunday, involving an 82-year-old man with no record of overseas travel, bringing the total to 29 after a five-day lull in new cases, Trend reports citing Yonhap.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said the new patient tested positive for the virus after visiting Korea University Anam Hospital in Seoul with a heart problem and is currently quarantined at Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul, one of the facilities designated by the state for the treatment of the virus.
The KCDC said he didn't go to a separate screening clinic for the virus since he had no symptoms of fever or respiratory problems upon his visit to the Anam hospital's emergency room. However, doctors there ran the coronavirus test after finding out that he had pneumonia.
The emergency room of the Korea University hospital is currently closed, according to the KCDC.
The KCDC believes that the latest patient had no contact with the country's other virus-confirmed patients at this moment, adding that health authorities are still investigating where and when he contracted the virus.
This is South Korea's first novel coronavirus case since Tuesday, when the country reported its 28th COVID-19 infection after a 30-year-old Chinese woman tested positive for the virus on Monday.
The number of people being checked for the virus under quarantine came to 577 as of early Sunday, the KCDC said in a statement.
South Korea has tested a total of 7,890 people for the virus since Jan. 3, with 7,313 testing negative.
The country has so far decided to release nine patients who have recovered from the virus from quarantine, with eight of them already discharged from their hospitals. One patient, a 46-year-old man, will be allowed to leave his hospital soon, according to the KCDC.
The KCDC said the 20 patients currently being treated for the virus at hospitals are in a stable condition, although one is receiving oxygen therapy for pneumonia but is not in a severe condition, it added. The condition of the 29th patient has yet to be made public.
Earlier in the day, the government released the second group of 334 South Koreans it evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, following a two-week quarantine after they have all tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
The evacuees were airlifted out of the central Chinese city of Wuhan on South Korea's second special chartered flight and arrived in the country on Feb. 1.
The first group of 366 evacuees, who arrived in South Korea on Jan. 31, were released from quarantine and returned home on Saturday.