Covid in K-pop: Pentagon’s Jinho, Jessi, Lee Mi-joo and Oh My Girl's Hyojung fall sick
It seems like Covid-19 is not letting fans of K-pop have a day's rest as four more idols tested positive for the novel virus. On February 23 alone, four idols reported testing positive for Covid-19 and have thus halted all their activities for the days to come. The pandemic originally had a slow start in the genre with very few idols testing positive but now, it seems like Covid-19 has affected every single K-pop group there is from BTS to Blackpink or Ateez to ITZY.
Rapper Jessi and former Lovelyz member Lee Mi-joo are the two newest K-pop idols who have reported testing positive for Covid-19 amongst more members from the cast of the variety program, ‘The Sixth Sense 3’. Not only these two but earlier in the day, Pentagon’s Jinho, as well as Oh My Girl’s Hyojung, had also reported testing positive for the virus after their PCR tests were released.
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Jessi and Lee Mi-joo test positive
The tvN variety show, ‘The Sixth Sense’ was currently filming its third season when many members of the cast and crew of the program reported testing positive for the virus. As the outbreak continues to intensify in K-pop, as of February 23, rapper Jessi, as well as former Lovelyz member Lee Mi-joo, have both tested positive.
Initially, after actor Lee Sang-yeob reported to have contracted the virus, all members of the ‘Sixth Sense 3’ cast took their pre-emptive PCR tests as they had only finished a schedule for the show. Lee Mi-joo tested positive for the Covid infection and soon after that Jessi, who is also a member of the cast of the show announced that she too had fallen sick.
While all members of the cast of ‘The Sixth Sense 3’ are currently isolating themselves as per the quarantine guidelines, the variety program which was originally scheduled to air on March 11 has now been postponed to March 18. This is done in order to secure a safe production environment as the production crew and cast reported many Covid-19 cases in quick succession over a short period of time.
Pentagon’s Jinho and Oh My Girl’s Hyojung also fall sick
Not only the two but the day also began with reports from Cube Entertainment stating that Jinho, the oldest member of Pentagon has tested positive for Covid-19 alongside Oh My Girl’s leader Hyojung. In their statement informing fans about Jinho’s health, Cube stated that Jinho who was going to appear on the MBC music show, ‘Show Champion’ had taken a self-test for the virus which rendered a positive result. After this, Jinho took a mandatory PCR test and he too turned out positive for Covid-19.
On the other hand, WM Entertainment, the label that manages Oh My Girl stated that Hyojung, who was scheduled to appear on MBC’s ‘Dreaming Radio’ broadcast on February 23, took a Covid-19 self-test a day prior to the show. The self-test turned out positive which was why Hyojung went ahead with the mandatory PCR test, which confirmed the virus infection. As a result of that, bandmate Yubin was said to have replaced Hyojung on the MBC radio show.
Both Jinho and Hyojung’s sides have announced that both idols finished two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and are currently in quarantine and isolating themselves as per the health guidelines of quarantine officials.