(LEAD) Ahn resumes presidential campaigning after deaths of workers

(ATTN: UPDATES with Ahn activity; REPLACES photo)

SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- Presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor People's Party resumed campaigning Saturday after a three-day pause due to the accidental deaths of two campaign workers this week.

Ahn suspended his campaign activities Tuesday after a local campaign chief and a bus driver were found dead inside a campaign vehicle in the central city of Cheonan after apparently inhaling toxic gas from a generator powering an LED screen.

Another bus driver remains unconscious following a similar accident in the northeastern city of Wonju on Wednesday.

After the funerals for the two workers were held Friday and early Saturday, Ahn restarted public activities with volunteer work at a public coronavirus screening center in Seoul.

"Many people are suffering from the recent spread of omicron. In particular, medical staff are struggling due to manpower shortage, so we are here hoping to be of a little help," Ahn told reporters at the facility.

Ahn was joined by his wife, Kim Mi-kyung, who was discharged from a hospital Friday after being treated for COVID-19. She tested positive for the virus on Feb. 13.

Kim, a professor of Seoul National University medical school, has been doing volunteer work of taking swab samples at the makeshift testing center every weekend since July last year.

Ahead of the March 9 presidential election, Ahn has been a distant third in opinion polls behind Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party and Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People's Power Party.

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