South Korea | Gov’t confirms seven more MERS cases as economy suffers

Metropolitan Government workers wear protective suits and spray antiseptic solution, in Seoul

South Korea reported seven additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome as President Park Geun Hye sought to rally an economy shaken by fears of contagion.
South Korea has confirmed 145 infections and at least 14 deaths since the outbreak of MERS last month. A 61-year-old patient died in a Busan hospital yesterday, raising the death toll to 15, Yonhap News reported. Health ministry officials did not answer calls seeking confirmation.
“We should make it more widely known that quarantine is thorough and reassuring, so people will freely carry on with their lives without feeling intimidated and not worry about visiting hospitals,” Park said yesterday during a visit to Seoul National University Hospital, her office website reported. She later visited a nearby shopping district, which has seen a drastic drop in consumers, it said.
The outbreak led Park to postpone a U.S. trip to focus on battling the virus. More than 4,000 people have been quarantined as officials stepped up efforts to reassure the public that the outbreak was under control and to limit economic damage.
Still, more than 100,000 people have canceled trips to the country, according to a statement from the presidential office. Many South Koreans are avoiding malls and restaurants for fear of the virus, a threat to consumer spending and demand.
On June 11 the Bank of Korea lowered its key rate to a record 1.5 percent, calling MERS “an imminent risk to consumption.” Goldman Sachs on June 9 cut its 2015 growth forecast for South Korea to 2.8 percent from 3.3 percent, partly because of the potential impact of the virus. Morgan Stanley said June 8 that MERS could slow economic growth by as much as 0.8 of a percentage point this year.
The spread of the virus was slowing thanks to effective control measures, with nearly all infections having occurred within hospitals, the World Health Organization said Saturday.
The government has faced criticism for failing to contain the virus. Park’s approval rating slid to 33 percent from 40 percent in the past two weeks, according to Gallup Korea.
The MERS outbreak hit just weeks after the first anniversary of the Sewol tragedy, which revived public grief over the government’s handling of a disaster in which more than 300 people, mostly high-school students, died when a ferry capsized.
A coronavirus from the Arabian peninsula, MERS has infected more than 1,100 people and killed more than 400 worldwide, mostly in the Middle East. The virus can lead to severe illness including respiratory failure or septic shock. There is no vaccine or cure. Sam Kim, Bloomberg

who: mers not spreading outside hospitals

The MERS virus in South Korea hasn’t spread outside hospitals among the wider community or become easier to transmit between humans, the World Health Organization said. After a weeklong review of the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome, experts from WHO and South Korea told reporters Saturday there was no evidence to suggest the virus, currently confined around health facilities, is spreading. It has been occurring among hospital patients, visiting family members and medical staff. Overcrowded emergency rooms and hospital wards might have contributed to a wider-than-expected transmission of the virus, which usually spreads poorly between people, said WHO Assistant Director Keiji Fukuda. South Korea’s habits of “doctor shopping” — visiting multiple facilities to treat the same infection — and having many friends and family members visiting hospitalized patients also might have contributed, he said.