HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-HOSPITALS People avoid going to hospitals in South Korea amid MERS outbreak

Record ID: 150715

  • Title: HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-HOSPITALS People avoid going to hospitals in South Korea amid MERS outbreak
  • Date: 9th June 2015
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 9, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING SEOUL STREETS MAN WEARING MASK WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 27-YEAR-OLD SOUTH KOREAN CITIZEN JO YOU-RIM SAYING: "I heard from the news that there are many infection cases that occurred within hospitals. So even if I fall sick, I won't go to a big hospital, I would rather rest at home for one or two days
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1TYL7UFX2QY5R2S3PW2GMW18U
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The number of patients visiting South Korean hospitals has dropped as subsequent infections of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus have occurred in healthcare facilities.
    South Korea's health ministry said on Tuesday (June 9) there were eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), bringing the total of patients to 95 and confirmed seventh death.
    Seoul's TV Chosun quoted a hospital official, saying that about thirty percent of the number of patients have dropped as South Koreans avoided going to hospitals even though they are not feeling well.
    "Friends did not want me to go to the hospital. They told me like I was going to an enemy territory. Since I visited the hospital, my friends would really hate me, so I won't meet my friends for a while," said a patient of Samsung Medical Center who requested anonymity.
    Thirty seven cases were infected with the virus and two people died in Samsung Medical Center, according to the health ministry.
    On Sunday (June 7), South Korean officials released the names of all the health facilities where MERS victims had been treated or visited, all 35 of them.
    The health facilities have been closed or partially operating to prevent the spread of the virus after a number of MERS cases came out.
    The disease outbreak has been spreading since a 68-year-old businessman brought it home from a Middle East trip last month.
    The seventh reported MERS death in South Korea was a 68-year-old woman who had an existing heart ailment and had been in the emergency room of a Seoul hospital, where a number of previous confirmed cases had been traced.
    Some Seoul citizens said they were afraid to visit a hospital.
    "I heard from the news that there are many infection cases that occurred within hospitals. So even if I fall sick, I won't go to a big hospital, I would rather rest at home for one or two days and then go to a nearby hospital. I've become afraid of going to a big hospital," said 27-year-old Jo You-rim.
    "I'd like to avoid going a hospital because I could get worse rather than get better if I receive a treatment in a hospital," said 30-year-old Park Gyu-beom.
    South Korea has the second highest number of infections, after Saudi Arabia, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
    Some 2,892 people who may have had contact with MERS patients have been put under quarantine, some in hospitals but most at home. Authorities have said they are using mobile phones to track people who violate quarantine.
    South Korea's new cases bring the total of MERS cases globally to 1,244, based on World Health Organization (WHO) data, with at least 446 related deaths.
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