Korean Air Flight Crew Positive For COVID-19; South Korea Prepares Mass Testing

A Korean Air flight attendant has tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the airline to close its office near the Incheon International Airport Tuesday, reports said.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) advised the carrier of the cabin crew about the infection, said Reuters, citing a statement from a Korean Air spokesperson.

Details on where the cabin crew flew were not immediately available, while the increase of COVID-19 cases in the country also initiated the KCDC to issue a level 3 travel warning for American travelers to “avoid nonessential travel” to South Korea, said Fox News.

The Center for Aviation also relayed that alongside Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and Air Busan has temporarily suspended all of their services to Mongolia.

Meanwhile, South Korea officials aim to test more than 200,000 members of a church in the southeastern city of Daegu where 16 of the new COVID-19 cases where reported.

Roughly 60% of the country's new cases traced back to Shincheonji Church of Jesus. The leader has agreed to help by providing authorities of all the names of its members in South Korea, said Reuters in a separate article.

“It is essential to test all of the church members in order to contain the spread of the virus and relieve public anxiety,” the prime minister's office told the outlet.

Vice Health Minister Kim Kang-Iip also told Reuters that they will prioritize to test some 1,300 of the 9,200 members of the church in Daegu who have shown symptoms of COVID-19.

They plan to complete the testing by Wednesday and “stabilize” Daegu within four weeks, Kang-Iip added.

South Korea now has the second-most largest cases of COVID-19 in the world with 893 cases.

The country only had 28 cases on February 14 and saw an increase of 130 cases in the past 24 hours, said Fox News.