Singer Chungha tests positive, prompting Twice to be tested too

SEOUL • K-pop singer Chungha has been hit by the coronavirus.

The former member of girl group I.O.I tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, prompting other K-pop artists who had close contact with her to go for testing as well.

The members of popular K-pop girl group Twice were among those who went for Covid-19 tests as group member Sana had met Chungha just last Friday.

All nine members of Twice as well as the group's staff tested negative for the coronavirus late on Monday.

Chungha, 24, also recently met Cosmic Girls' Yeonjung, Gugudan's Mina and DIA's Chaeyeon. All three have also tested negative for the coronavirus.

Chungha had been due to release her single, X, tomorrow before releasing her first full-length album Querencia next month.

She said in a post: "I'm so sorry again and again. I've tried to be cautious, but I think I needed to be more so. I'll come back after fully recovering."

In accordance with official health guidelines in South Korea, Sana, 23, will be quarantined till next Friday. But the other members of Twice can still continue their activities.

Besides the singers, staff at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, which was held on Sunday, were also tested as Twice had performed on the show.

The group won the Most Popular Artist award and was in the top 10 of the Worldwide Fans Choice category.

There has been a spate of Covid-19 infections in the K-pop industry recently.

Two members of boy band Up10tion, two members of girl group Everglow and singer Lee Chan-won, who specialises in an older folk music genre called trot, tested positive for Covid-19 last week.