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Oceans Minister in self-quarantine following contact with virus patient

March 17, 2020 - 13:53 By Kim Bo-gyung
Oceans Minister Moon Seong-hyeok (center) attends a meeting to discuss measures for the fisheries industry to navigate the COVID-19 outbreak at the administrative city Sejong on March 9. (Yonhap)

Minster of Oceans and Fisheries Moon Seong-hyeok is working remotely in self-quarantine after coming into contact with a COVID-19 patient, the ministry said Tuesday.

Moon started working from home Monday and will do so for 14 days. He is the first Cabinet member to go into self-quarantine.

“Minister Moon was notified of the self-isolation from health authorities. He plans to work remotely from his residence until March 24,” said a ministry official.

Though Moon tested negative for the deadly contagion last week, he was asked to self-quarantine after it was confirmed that he had been in contact with a ministry staff member who had tested positive for the virus.

Moon is one of some 290 ministry officials who are in self-isolation or self-quarantine. The ministry reported 27 cases of COVID-19 last week, giving rise to concerns that it could become an infection cluster.

The Oceans Ministry said it would make a concerted effort to stop the further spread of the virus.

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)