Workers in protective gear against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus sanitize a public bus at a transport company depot in Seoul
The South Korean death toll from Middle East respiratory syndrome has risen to 16 the Financial Times reported yesterday, as local authorities struggle to contain the disease nearly four weeks into an outbreak that has stirred widespread public alarm.
According to the UK-based newspaper, President Park Geun-hye yesterday urged citizens to return to their normal lives in her latest appeal to ease growing fears following one more death. Five new cases of MERS were reported yesterday the FT added, bringing to 150 the total confirmed infections.
MERS has spread in South Korea more rapidly than in any other country, making it the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia. However, the disease has so far been confined to hospitals.
More than 5,000 people have been quarantined, with four hospitals sealed off, the paper stated. The health ministry warned that the number of people isolated was likely to double, with about 4,000 people being monitored for possible infection after Seoul’s Samsung Medical Center became the latest flashpoint of the virus.
The hospital, one of the country’s biggest, shut nearly all its operations after about half of confirmed infections were traced there.
Furthermore, according to the Financial Times, thousands of South Korean schools that were closed amid fears over the outbreak reopened yesterday but at least 440 remain shuttered.
The World Health Organization, which has been conducting a joint investigation into MERS in the country, said on Saturday the outbreak was “large and complex”, and that more cases should be anticipated. Keiji Fukuda, a WHO assistant director-general who was quoted by the newspaper, said the country’s initial responses to the outbreak “were not optimal”, with the situation aggravated by crowded emergency units, shared wards and the practice of seeking care at many different medical facilities.
Ms Park, whose approval ratings have dipped over the government’s response to the outbreak, told a meeting of senior aides that “the daily lives of ordinary people and business activities of companies should return to normal”.
Last week she postponed a scheduled trip to the US to oversee efforts to contain the disease, after coming under fire for her perceived lack of leadership at times of national emergency. Her approval ratings, which hovered around 40 per cent before the outbreak, fell below 35 per cent last week, according to a Realmeter poll.
The finance ministry said yesterday the government would maintain an expansionary fiscal policy to help minimize the adverse economic impact from the outbreak.
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