HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA South Korea names 24 hospitals with MERS cases

Record ID: 150355

  • Title: HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA South Korea names 24 hospitals with MERS cases
  • Date: 7th June 2015
  • Summary: SEJONG, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 7, 2015) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** SOUTH KOREAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF STRATEGY AND FINANCE, CHOI KYUNG-HWAN, SOUTH KOREAN MINISTER OF HEALTH AND WELFARE, MOON HYUNG-PYO AND CHAIR OF KOREAN SOCIETY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, KIM WOO-JOO WALKING INTO NEWS BRIEFING ROOM JOURNALISTS AT NEWS BRIEFING CHOI SPEAK
  • Embargoed: 22nd June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAD6VEJVREHSPTHMESFS2KPKZ2Y
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan on Sunday (June 7) named 24 hospitals with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cases, where the infections took place or confirmed MERS patients visited.
    "There are a total of 24 hospitals, where infections took place or MERS patients visited. Six hospitals among them, including Pyeongtaek St. Mary's Hospital and Samsung Medical Centre, are where the confirmed cases occurred. The remaining 18 are hospitals where MERS patients have visited," Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan told a news briefing.
    South Korea's outbreak of the often-deadly MERS virus, first reported on May 20, is the largest outside the Middle East, prompting public fear and questions over the government's initial response.
    "We can absolutely control this because all MERS cases in our country are infections in health facilities, not spreading into communities," Choi said.
    Choi, who is also the country's finance minister, said there was no current need for a supplementary budget to help the country's economy weather the outbreak. With the economy already flagging, the MERS outbreak is adding pressure for another interest rate cut, possibly as soon as the central bank's next policy meeting on June 11.
    He added that people should carry on with their everyday lives.
    "We ask for people not to be oversensitive so as not to dampen economic activities," Choi added.
    South Korean health officials on Sunday reported 14 more cases of MERS, bringing the total in the country's outbreak to 64, and said a fifth person infected with the virus had died.
    First identified in humans in 2012, MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. However, MERS has a much higher death rate at 38 percent, according to World Health Organization figures.
    There has been no sustained human-to-human transmission, but the worst-case scenario is that the virus changes and spreads rapidly, as SARS did in 2002-2003 when it killed about 800 people around the world.
    South Korea's new cases bring the total number globally to about 1,208, based on WHO data, with at least 444 related deaths.
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