Eleven new draftees have tested positive for COVID-19, raising the alarm over a further spread of the virus within the military.

According to military authorities on Thursday, the group of eleven entered an Army boot camp in the central city of Nonsan earlier this week and were waiting to start training two weeks later.

Since being confirmed on Wednesday, they have been transferred to civilian hospitals for treatment.

While a total of one-thousand-600 new draftees were assigned to two barracks, all of those who tested positive had been staying in the same location.

As epidemiological studies of the confirmed draftees are under way, there could be additional cases.