Dozens of South Korean employees test positive for Covid-19 after attending tech event in US

About 70 South Korean company executives and employees have tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the US last week, according to South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). 

“I have one request. Many people who attended the CES international electronic product fair in Las Vegas, US, last week are testing positive for Covid-19,” a senior health official Son Young-are said in a health briefing on Wednesday.

“We are promptly contacting them and conducting an epidemiological investigation for those who participated in the event but we urge business people who attended this event or those who have already arrived in South Korea [after attending the event] to receive a PCR test as soon as possible,” Son said.

Samsung, Hyundai, and SK are among the major South Korean companies to have participated in the CES event this year.

Six Hyundai Heavy Industries staff who attended the CES tested positive for Covid-19 and they have been in hotel quarantine in the US, without symptoms.

Two of the six have recently tested negative and are on their way back to Seoul, while the other four remain in quarantine in the US, Hyundai Heavy Industries officials told CNN without specifying how many people attended the event.

According to SK, six or seven staff members have tested positive after the event so far. The company told CNN that all of its participants were fully vaccinated and complied with the mask mandate.

In a statement to CNN, Samsung said it “took a number of steps to protect the health and well-being of attendees,” including requiring vaccines, strictly adhering to mask mandates, and establishing social distancing protocols. The company “will take additional protective measures as needed," it added.

This year’s CES event was held in Las Vegas from January 5-7.