HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-DISINFECTION South Korea disinfects airport amid MERS outbreak

Record ID: 151686

  • Title: HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-DISINFECTION South Korea disinfects airport amid MERS outbreak
  • Date: 17th June 2015
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 17, 2015) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** VARIOUS OF SOUTH KOREAN WORKERS WEARING FACE MASK AND GOGGLES SPRAYING DISINFECTANT ON FLOOR AT GIMPO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WORKER WEARING FACE MASK AND GOGGLE DISINFECTANT BEING SPRAYED ON FLOOR VARIOUS OF WORKERS SPRAYING DISINFECTANT ON FLOOR PEOPLE WALKING PASS HEAT-DETECTING CAME
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABW9CNU2HHW9CX8XBOTMBKL8B3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Gimpo International Airport in Seoul was disinfected on Wednesday (June 17) as the number of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cases continued to rise.
    South Korean workers wearing face mask and goggles sprayed disinfectant on the floor at the airport as part of the effort to contain the spread of MERS in public places.
    The government has promised to do everything it can to end the outbreak which began in South Korea last month when an infected South Korean man brought the virus back from a business trip to the Middle East.
    However, people are still worried and do not trust the preventive measures.
    "I saw the newspaper articles about MERS when I was abroad. All of the infections had taken place in hospitals, even they did disinfection. Thus, I'm still worried and cannot trust the disinfection," 26-year-old South Korean resident, Kim Dae-young, said.
    South Korea's tourism industry has suffered from a significant drop in tourist numbers as concern over the spread of MERS has grown overseas.
    Singapore postponed or cancelled all school trips to the country and Malaysia advised its nationals to avoid South Korea.
    As of June 4, 20,600 people had cancelled planned trips to South Korea, according to the Korea Tourism Organisation - a 75 percent increase on the previous day's figures.
    A 40-year-old Japanese tourist Makoto Osawa, who arrived in South Korea on Wednesday, said he brought his own protective equipment to protect himself.
    "I'm worried coming to Korea, because I may have, I may also get disease. So I prepared with this mask and also a spray," Makoto said.
    South Korea's health ministry on Wednesday reported eight new cases of MERS, whilst another person infected with the virus died, bringing to 20 the number of fatalities in the outbreak.
    More than 6,500 people are in quarantine, either at home or in health facilities.
    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called the South Korean outbreak "large and complex".
    But in a statement after a meeting of its emergency committee on MERS, the WHO said the conditions for a public health emergency of international concern have not been met.
    MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered China's deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
    The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been in Saudi Arabia, where more than 1,000 people have been infected since 2012, and about 454 have died.
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