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Covid in K-pop: Chaeryeong becomes third Itzy member to test positive

Three out of five Itzy members test positive for Covid-19

While we are getting good news like Enhypen’s Sunoo recovering from Covid-19, the outbreak in K-pop hasn’t stemmed. 26 idols had tested positive last week. On February 14 itself, 3 idols – Itzy’s Yeji, CNBLUE’s Yonghwa and Kingdom’s Dann had tested positive. Not even 12 hours later, Ateez’s San got Covid-19 a second time along with BTOB’s Seungkwang who was preparing for the group’s first full comeback since 2018. Weeekly's Soojin, AB6IX’s Woojin and even BTS’ V then tested positive. And now the cases have reached nine as Chaeryeong becomes the latest idol to get the virus in the third week of February.

Seoul had implemented stricter social distancing guidelines, however, since Omicron isn’t considered lethal yet, the measures allow K-pop idols to continue with their gigs in crowded places. And despite a majority of idols taking their third booster shot of the vaccine, with the new Covid-19 variant being quite infectious, artists continue to test positive. In fact, all of Tempest, almost all of Cravity, 2AM and Itzy have gotten the virus.

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Three out of five Itzy members get Covid-19

Itzy’s Lia was one of the 10 idols to test positive on February 12. It had led to JYPE canceling the group’s third-anniversary celebratory live broadcast. The rest of Itzy had also tested immediately and while their self-tests came back negative, they had also taken PCR tests. Out of the four remaining members, only leader Yeji’s test had come back positive on February 14. She only had a mild fever but all of Itzy was quarantined. Well, two days later, Chaeryeong also fell sick.

On February 16, JYPE shared that Chaeryeong had continued to get tested every since Lia got Covid-19. Her results came back positive on February 15 with a self-test kit. She then took a PCR test and it has come back positive on February 16. Like Lia and Yeji, Chaeryeong too has taken her second vaccine shot. Hence she only has mild symptoms like cough and a headache. She is quarantined at home according to the authorities’ guidelines.

‘Get well soon’

Even non-fans were surprised as to the growing number of cases in K-pop as one user tweeted, “Get well soon another k pop idol sk must be bad right now 😢 not good.“ Worried fans posted, “Get well soon yeji lia and chaeryeong.” Another Midzy shared, “Chaeryeong has been tested positive for COVID-19, that’s also the reason why she hasn’t been updating lately, i hope she’s resting well :(( to my ryeongie, please rest well.. midzys will always be here for you, praying for ur fast recovery <3 ily.”