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OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — An American contractor who works at Osan was confirmed to have coronavirus on Saturday, the military said, raising the number of infections affiliated with U.S. Forces Korea to 18.

It is the second case in as many days for Osan, which has gone on partial lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading further.

The contractor, who last visited the air base on Wednesday, is in isolation at his off-base residence as directed by South Korean and U.S. military medical personnel, USFK said in a press release Saturday.

Authorities are cleaning potentially affected areas and conducting contact tracing to determine whether anybody else was exposed, it said.

Osan is near Camp Humphreys, the main U.S. base in South Korea, which has reported seven cases in less than two weeks.

Both installations have been placed on Health Protection Condition Charlie-plus, which means the area is experiencing “sustained community transmission” of the coronavirus, according to the Defense Department.

Only two soldiers have been infected. The other confirmed cases were military dependents, contractors and South Korean employees.

news@stripes.com

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