Three more cases of H1N1 influenza A have been confirmed, bringing the number of reported infections here to 32, the health agency said Thursday.
A 41-year-old American English teacher, a 38-year-old educator and a 19-year-old Korean national were confirmed to have been infected with the H1N1 virus, according to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs.
The English teacher and the 38-year-old educator work at the same language institute where 20 employees, mostly foreign instructors, had already been found to be infected with the contagious disease as of Wednesday.
The 19-year-old Korean is being treated at a state-designated hospital since after returning from overseas Tuesday and showing flu-like symptoms, the ministry said.
South Korea had been considered relatively insulated from the highly contagious virus until last week, with just four confirmed cases reported.
The number, however, is growing sharply after a group of foreign English teachers from the same language institute were found to be infected over the weekend, raising concerns the virus might be spreading through person-to-person contact.
According to the latest tally by the World Health Organization, 48 countries have officially reported more than 13,000 cases of influenza A, which has caused 95 deaths, mostly in Mexico and the United States.