HEALTH-MERS/TAIWAN Taiwan health officials take steps to prevent MERS outbreak

Record ID: 151468

  • Title: HEALTH-MERS/TAIWAN Taiwan health officials take steps to prevent MERS outbreak
  • Date: 16th June 2015
  • Summary: MONITOR
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB0GSXWZ9LBICN49HRNAE293ND
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Taiwan's Centres for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday (June 16) Taiwanese tourists should avoid approaching local hospitals when travelling in South Korea, where the number of deaths has reached 19 after the MERS outbreak, which began in May.
    Taiwan CDC's Director of Preparedness and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Yang Chin-Hui, said a returning tourist suspected of having MERS at the airport would be sent straight to hospital to be treated, during an interview with Reuters on Tuesday (June 16).
    "At present, for the MERS issue, if when tourists coming back from Middle East or South Korea, have a fever when they walk through the site (Fever Clinic at airport), once our colleagues detect it, we'll see how their condition is, then we'll send them directly to our hospital at airport to do further medical treatment," Yang said.
    Yang said the centre would keep travel agencies updated with the latest guidance for travellers about the MERS outbreak.
    "At the beginning, we had meetings with guides and those in the tourism industry. We have been giving them all latest information and data on the situation with the epidemic, and told them to hand them out to their tourists. Just as before, our guidance at present is asking tourists not to go to (Korea's) hospitals if at all possible. If one of their (the guides') tourists must go to hospital then we would ask them to inform us when they return so we can follow up on this tourist. (We) hope everybody can work together to prevent this disease from entering Taiwan," Yang said.
    As fears over the disease persist, one of Taiwan's largest travel agencies, ezTravel, has provided their customers who bought tickets to South Korea with alternative options, including travelling to nearby countries or a refund.
    "We've had many tourists accept our offer to travel to other places instead because they have already applied for the time off work. If we can help them travelling to places like Osaka, Japan, or to Universal Studios in Japan and so on, as far as they're concerned, they have already taken the time off and they can travel to other countries so their mood won't be influenced," said Melody Lu, Marketing manager of ezTravel.
    The outbreak has make some people less willing to travel to South Korea, like 24-year-old Wu Yi-ying.
    "So far I am not planning to travel to South Korea. On the one hand like you just said, the MERS outbreak is a bit serious there, so this is the main reason why I am considering (not to go there)," Wu said.
    MERS has infected 154 people in South Korea and killed 19 since it was first diagnosed just over four weeks ago in a businessman who had returned from a trip to the Middle East.
    The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the South Korean outbreak "large and complex" and all MERS cases have been traced to healthcare facilities.
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