File photo of SK Hynix Inc. at its office in Seongnam, South Korea.

 

A South Korean citizen who works in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality was confirmed as an asymptomatic COVID-19 case on Saturday, when he arrived at Incheon International Airport in South Korea.

The man, surnamed Han, who works as an engineer at SK Hynix Semiconductor (Chongqing) Ltd, set out on Thursday for Incheon, South Korea by air, after visiting Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province via a vehicle arranged by the company, according to a statement released by the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control office of Chongqing's Gaoxin district on Saturday.

Han tested positive for COVID-19 at Incheon International Airport on Saturday and a preliminary diagnosis said he was an asymptomatic case, the statement said, noting that the engineer has reported the situation to his company.

After receiving the report, Chongqing immediately initiated its emergency response, including epidemiological investigations, containment on site, nucleic acid tests and disinfection. 

SK Hynix also confirmed with the Global Times on Sunday that the Chongqing firm that the engineer works for has halted production, implemented fully enclosed management, isolated all employees and carried out nucleic acid testing.

"Taking into account that the Chongqing government has begun to implement a series of related measures, our response is to do our best to follow the measures of the local government and work closely with it, and strive to resume factory operations in the short term," a SK Hynix spokesperson said.

The Chongqing Holiday Inn where Han stayed was also temporarily closed, and all of its employees and guests who have been at the hotel since Wednesday have been tracked and received nucleic acid tests, the statement by the epidemic prevention and control office said.

A hotel receptionist told the Global Times on Sunday that so far the nucleic acid tests done on hotel employees and guests who have reported negative.

The hotel will wait for local government's further notice about when to resume operation, the hotel receptionist said.

As of Sunday morning, Chongqing had taken nucleic acid samples of 3,283 people. Results have been returned on 2,674 samples, all of which were negative, while 149 direct and indirect contacts of Han have been put under quarantine, the Xinhua News Agency reported.