July 19, 2021: South Korea will airlift dozens of sailors from a warship involved in anti-piracy operations in the seas off Africa after the military confirmed its biggest-ever outbreak of coronavirus, the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said in the worst-ever outbreak in the military.
A total of 247 sailors from the 301-strong Cheonghae unit tested positive, Yonhap news agency cited the JCS as saying on Monday.
The unit reported six cases of Covid19 in the past week, which resulted in the entire staff being tested for the virus.
Most of the sailors aboard the ship Munmu the Great have been isolated, though 16 people have been sent to hospital for treatment. All crew members are expected to return home on Tuesday after the government sent two transporter planes to collect them. The navy destroyer, part of a piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Hormuz, will be piloted back home by an alternative team of sailors. Staff on the ship are usually rotated every six months.
The outbreak is the deadliest since the military reported its first COVID19 case in February last year, prompting sharp criticism of the armed forces’ response to the disease. None of the units were vaccinated against the virus because they had left South Korea before the vaccination campaign started.
“We will review and implement military guidelines on the management of overseas troops,” Yonhap news agency was quoted as saying by a Defense Ministry official. Yonhap said the infection appears to have started in late June after a shipwreck at an African port to supply cargo.
A day after leaving the port, a sailor showed signs of a cold. He was not tested for Covid19 and was not quarantined.
After a dozen others developed similar symptoms about a week later, the authorities conducted COVID-19 tests with rapid testing kits, instead of the more accurate PCR tests, which found them all negative. It was only when six of the samples were sent for PCR tests that the first cases were confirmed, according to the officials.
According to the ministry, about 73% of the 1,300 troops on missions abroad are now completely vaccinated.
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