Two of Chungha's staff have tested positive for coronavirus while the South Korean singer tested negative. Her agency has confirmed the news.
It was earlier reported that a staff of a popular singer in South Korea has tested positive for the deadly virus that is currently killing hundreds in the country. In a statement, Chungha's label MNH Entertainment confirmed that two of her staff contracted the disease.
According to the agency, the singer along with her staff returned to Korea on February 24 after finishing her schedule in Italy. One member of her entourage showed symptoms of a fever. The staff got examined and has been confirmed to have COVID-19.
Italy is the hardest-hit country in Europe by the coronavirus. It is third in the world with the highest number of cases next to China and South Korea. As of writing, the country has recorded a 50% increase in cases. It now has 1,694 confirmed cases and 34 people have died.
MNH said they immediately requested self-isolation for Chungha and all of the staff that accompanied her on their trip to Italy. The agency conducted additional tests on the group and one more staff member was found positive of the virus. The former I.O.I. member and the rest of her staff received their test results on Sunday and they all found negative of the disease.
This prompted the agency to cancel all planned activities of Chungha. MNH also vowed to deal with the situation with all necessary measures. After the confirmation from MNH, 88Rising also announced that the "Roller Coaster" singer will not be attending Head in the Clouds Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Chungha is just one of South Korean artists who either canceled or postponed their activities due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Big Hit announced last week that cancellation of K-pop sensation BTS's highly-anticipated concert in Korea. The group was scheduled to perform on April 11-12 and April 18-19 at Seoul's Olympic Stadium for what is supposed to be the kick-off of their Map of the Soul world tour.
TWICE also earlier canceled the finale leg of the TWICELIGHTS world tour in Seoul. The K-pop female group was scheduled to hold an encore performance on March 7 and 8 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena. However, due to the outbreak, JYP Entertainment decided to cancel the event.
Other artists who have already canceled shows are NCT, GOT7, WINNER, and Taeyeon. Organizers of the Korean Times Music Festival held annually in California also announced that they would postpone their event scheduled in April.
