The Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Office and Jeju City Hall were partly closed Sunday after visits by a COVID-19 patient, city officials said.

The patient, a door-to-door cosmetic salesperson, was found to have visited the province office on Monday and the city hall on Tuesday and Thursday, last week, according to the officials.

In response, the six departments at the province office and nine departments at the city hall were closed earlier in the day for disinfection and epidemiological investigations. The affected offices will remain closed till Monday morning, they said.

The patient, Jeju Island's 40th confirmed case, tested positive after visiting a hot spring spa in the island's Seogwipo city last Sunday, the same day it was visited by two patients -- a Protestant pastor couple who initially lied about their visit during epidemiological surveys but later were found out by local health officials.

Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong called an emergency meeting to discuss a recent rise in coronavirus infections on the island.

"The island should stay on alert and strongly respond to any outbreaks," he said during the meeting. All of the 14 patients who have been confirmed over the past week in Jeju are those who have recently visited the greater Seoul area or had close contact with people from there, he noted. (Yonhap)