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U.S. Forces Korea had four people come up positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease, after arriving in South Korea between March 31 and April 8, according to a news release Thursday.
No other U.S. installations in South Korea or Japan had reported new COVID-19 patients as of 5 p.m. Thursday.
Two of USFK’s new patients are service members who arrived at Osan Air Base during that period aboard the Patriot Express, a government-contracted passenger service, the release said. The others are a service member and a dependent who arrived between March 31 and April 5 at Incheon International Airport aboard commercial flights.
Three of the new cases tested positive on their first mandatory test before entering quarantine, and one came up positive on the test required to exit quarantine, according to the release. All were quarantined at either Osan or farther to the south at the U.S. Army’s Camp Humphreys.
In Japan, Tokyo reported 729 people newly infected with the coronavirus, its highest one-day total since 734 cases on Feb. 4, according to public broadcaster NHK. Parts of the city are under an emergency order that requests bars and restaurants to close between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.
ditzler.joseph@stripes.com Twitter: @JosephDitzler