South Korea’s prime minister has offered a public apology over a large-scale coronavirus outbreak on a destroyer on an anti-piracy mission off East Africa. A total of 247 of the destroyer’s 301 crew members have been confirmed to have contracted COVID-19.
The outbreak aboard the destroyer Munmu the Great is the largest cluster South Korea’s military has seen. A total of 247 of the ship’s 301 crew have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days and two military planes had to be dispatched to fly them all home.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said in televised comments that the government is “very sorry for failing to carefully take care of the health of our soldiers who are devoting themselves to the country.” The cause of infections at the 4,400-ton-class destroyer hasn’t been announced. But military authorities earlier suspected the outbreak might have begun when the destroyer docked at a harbor in the region to load goods in late June.The military planes dispatched to bring back the sailors were carrying other navy personnel who are to sail the Munmu the Great to South Korea for a journey expected to take one month.
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