ASAN -- An Uzbek national, infected with the new coronavirus, was captured shortly after he escaped from a residential treatment center in a South Chungcheong Province city earlier this week, sources said Thursday.

The 24-year-old ran away from the Police Human Resources Development Institute in Asan, about 100 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

The institute is currently being used as a treatment facility for COVID-19 patients with mild or no symptoms.

Upon learning of the escape, local health officials began a search and found the patient hiding at a residence in Cheonan, where his coworkers had been put under a mandatory self-quarantine.

The patient was readmitted to the treatment center at 5:20 p.m., about three hours after his escape.

According to the sources, the man was diagnosed with COVID-19 at an airport here Saturday upon entering the country on a work visa with a group of coworkers.

Local residents called for measures to prevent similar cases from happening. (Yonhap)