PYEONGCHANG: About 1,200 people working security at the Pyeongchang Olympics are being kept in their rooms while they are tested for norovirus.

Lee Hee-beom, chairman of the Pyeongchang Olympics organising committee, said on Tuesday that they would be sequestered until they are declared fit, told AFP.

He says the results of tests on the workers will be out soon.

Pyeongchang’s Olympics organising committee said Monday that officials started investigating a norovirus outbreak after 41 security guards suffered diarrhoea and vomiting.

Officials are examining food and water sources at a mountainside facility in Pyeongchang where the guards had been staying , and also inspecting 18 other facilities that rely on groundwater.

Norovirus is a contagious virus that causes stomach pain, nausea and diarrhoea. The most effective way to stop its spread is to practice good hand-washing and personal hygiene.