(Seoul) Three members of BTS, a famous South Korean K-pop group, tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return from the United States, where they performed on stage for the first time since start of the pandemic, their producer announced on Saturday.
Rapper RM and singer Jin tested positive on Saturday night, Big Hit Music reported.
The day before, the company had reported that Suga, another member of the group which has seven, was “taking care of him at home” after testing positive.
RM and Suga are asymptomatic while Jin has a mild fever, the agency added, noting that all three were fully vaccinated.
The South Korean group had given in Los Angeles, from the end of November to the beginning of December, its first concerts by being physically present on stage since the start of the pandemic.
PHOTO MARIO ANZUONI, REUTERS ARCHIVES
BTS attended the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on November 21.
The artists had since been on vacation, and the three band members who were infected returned to South Korea on different dates.
None of them have had any contact with the other members of the group since their return to South Korea.
RM and Suga received their positive test results while they were still in quarantine after returning home. Jin was released from solitary confinement after testing negative but later tested positive.
Big Hit Music has ensured that it places the “highest priority on the health and safety” of artists.
BTS had climbed in 2020 to the first place of Billboard Hot 100, the American ranking of the most popular songs, with his song Dynamite, becoming the first South Korean group to top this chart.
Both the United States and South Korea are facing an increase in cases of contamination amid the global spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.