BTS member Suga has tested positive for Covid-19 after travelling to the United States, the South Korean band’s music label reported on Friday.
BigHit Music made the announcement on its artist-to-fan social media platform We verse, which confirmed reports that the rapper-songwriter had tested positive for the coronavirus while in self-quarantine after returning from the K-pop boy band’s US trip.
BigHit also confirmed the 28-year-old star, legally known as Min Yoon-gi, is asymptomatic and received his second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in August.
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Suga, who had been tested for Covid-19 multiple times over the past few weeks, was self-quarantining when the positive result came in. He has not recently been in contact with any of the other BTS members.
BTS performed a series of concerts in the US at the end of November and in early December, and have officially been on holiday since then. Suga returned to South Korea on December 23 and tested positive on Christmas Eve.
TUMBLR RULER JUNGKOOK#Jungkook is the FIRST & ONLY K-pop star to have been crowned by Tumblr to be the #1 Most Popular K-pop Star for 4 consecutive years. Congratulations Jungkook 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/TQScFKjerk
— JK SINGAPORE 🐰🇸🇬⁷ (@Jeonjungkook_SG) December 18, 2021
Both South Korea and the US are grappling with rising Covid-19 cases as the Omicron variant of the virus spreads.
Immediately following the news, fans shared well wishes on social media, with terms like “GetwellsoonSuga” and the phrase “Get Well Yoongi” trending on Twitter.
During their stint in the US, the K-pop band also made a highly-publicised appearance at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
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Following their UNGA address, the band had also performed their latest English single “Permission to Dance” at the UN headquarters.
Reuters with additional input by GVS News Desk