South Korea media have quoted local authorities saying that a woman had tested positive for the Zika virus after a visit to the Maldives.
The 33-year-old Korean woman was confirmed to have been infected with the mosquito-borne virus after visiting the Maldives, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
She is presumed to have been bitten by a mosquito during her stay in the country earlier this month, the authorities said.
The woman, whose identity has been withheld, received treatment at a hospital after showing symptoms of skin rash and muscle ache, KCDC officials said.
The disease control center said it is conducting an epidemiological investigation into another person who had traveled with the woman.
Maldives health authorities in September last year had confirmed that three tourists had tested positive for Zika virus after they left the Maldives.
Zika causes only mild symptoms in most, including fever, sore eyes and a rash.
But pregnant women with the mosquito-borne virus risk giving birth to babies with microcephaly — a deformation that leads to abnormally small brains and heads.
There is no cure or vaccine for the virus, which has infected more than 1.5 million people in nearly 70 countries since last year, according to WHO, with Brazil the hardest hit.
While Zika has been present in Southeast Asia for years, there has been an uptick in the number of recorded cases in the region in recent months.
Two locals in December last year had tested positive for the virus, but both had returned to normal within a week of contracting the virus.
