This file photo taken July 7, 2021, shows the gate of an Army boot camp in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, which reported a cluster COVID-19 infection recently. (Yonhap)A Navy officer and a civilian worker for the military tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday.

The officer in the southern city of Changwon was confirmed to have been infected while in quarantine, and the civilian worker in Seoul tested positive after one of his family members recently contracted the virus, according to the ministry.

The latest cases brought the total caseload among the military population to 1,497, with 305 of them under treatment, it added.

South Korea has experienced a new wave of the pandemic since late last month, with the daily caseload coming to 1,674 COVID-19 cases, including 1,632 local infections, on Thursday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Meanwhile, the defense ministry said 109,773 troops aged 30 and older, or 93.9 percent of the age group, have received their second doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Wednesday. (Yonhap)