JEUNGPYEONG -- Ten Uzbek nationals have tested positive for the new coronavirus while living together in the central county of Jeungpyeong, officials here said Tuesday.

According to government officials of North Chungcheong Province and Jeungpyeong County, the first case of the cluster infection involved a 20-something-year-old college student of Uzbek nationality who tested positive for COVID-19 Monday morning.

The student was sharing a house with 10 other roommates from the central Asian country, all in their 20s, in Jeungpyeong, about 100 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The student, enrolled at a university in the greater Seoul area, got tested for the virus Sunday after showing symptoms, according to the officials.

Following the confirmation of the initial case, the 10 roommates underwent virus tests, and the results for nine of them came back positive Monday afternoon.

Five of the additionally confirmed had shown COVID-19 symptoms, such as coughing or headache, according to the officials.

The patients will be transported to hospitals for treatment, while the one uninfected roommate was put under mandatory self-quarantine, officials said.

While health authorities were tracing the routes of the cluster infection, they also launched an investigation into why the Uzbek nationals were living together although they studied or worked in different regions. (Yonhap)