A group of nearly 30 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at a correctional facility in the central county of Hongseong in South Chungcheong Province.

According to the Ministry of Justice on Monday, a new inmate in his or her 40s tested positive during an admission process on Saturday, before an additional 28, including 25 inmates and three facility workers, were confirmed the following day. Eleven of the confirmed inmates had not been vaccinated.

The ministry suspects the new inmate’s case is separate from the group infection.

Authorities have placed the patients and others who had close contact under cohort isolation to be looked after by medical personnel within the facility.

The ministry is considering transferring around 200 inmates who tested negative to other facilities to prevent a further spread.

This is the first cluster at a correctional facility since last December when some one-thousand-200 people were infected at Seoul Dongbu Detention Center.