HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-SCHOOL South Korean students get temperature checked amid MERS outbreak

Record ID: 150728

  • Title: HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-SCHOOL South Korean students get temperature checked amid MERS outbreak
  • Date: 9th June 2015
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 9, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GATE OF SEOUL MIDONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WHERE CLASSES ARE BEING HELD AS USUAL BANNER ON GATE READING (in Korean): "CONTROL ACCESS OF PARENTS TO KEEP STUDENTS SAFE FROM MERS" STUDENTS WEARING MASKS PASSING THROUGH SCHOOL GATE AND COMING DOWN HILL MALE STUDENT WEARING MASK WALKING AT SCHOOL/
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC8XHSHUOYZ08490HVAWADPAAQ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Korean students got their body temperatures checked before classes on Tuesday (June 9) amid Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak.
    Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education required all students coming to schools have their body temperatures measured every day, starting from Monday (June 8).
    South Korea's Health Ministry reported a lower number of new cases of MERS on Tuesday with eight confirmed patients bringing the total to 95, as the daily rate of fresh cases slowed from 23 a day earlier.
    The ministry also said a patient infected with the MERS virus has died, another person who had been suffering an existing serious ailment at the time of the infection, becoming the seventh fatality in an outbreak that began in May.
    A number of students at Seoul Midong Elementary School were wearing masks when they came to the school in the morning and access for parents to go in and out of the schools is now tightly controlled by school authorities.
    "In order to prevent Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) transmission, our school encourage students to wear masks whenever coming to school and going back home. We also check temperature of all students and visitors in our school," principal Ryu Jeong-ok said.
    Ryu said the MERS outbreak has impacted the school especially with planned international exchange programs.
    "The (Chinese) school was scheduled to visit our school in June, but it was suddenly cancelled. So I asked how come it happened, and the school said the Chinese educational authorities prohibited students from leaving the country for South Korea," Ryu added.
    More than 2,000 schools closed on Tuesday, some mothers stayed home from work to look after their children.
    Malaysia has advised its nationals to avoid South Korea while Singapore has postponed or cancelled school trips.
    But alarm is growing and about 25,000 people cancelled trips to South Korea between June 5 and June 7, the Korean Tourism Organisation said.
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