HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-WHO Director General of WHO meets South Korean foreign minister amid MERS outbreak

Record ID: 151707

  • Title: HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-WHO Director General of WHO meets South Korean foreign minister amid MERS outbreak
  • Date: 18th June 2015
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 18, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) MARGARET CHAN (LEFT) AND SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER YUN BYUNG-SE (RIGHT) SHAKING HANDS AND POSING FOR PHOTO CHAN, WHO DELEGATION, YUN AND SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS TAKING SEATS CHAN SPEAKING YUN LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR-
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA39C8E6GZ01KG3GLVMVBMFGCM8
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: World Heath Organisation (WHO) Director General, Margaret Chan, arrived in Seoul, South Korea, for a three-day visit to the country and met with South Korean foreign minister Yun Byung-se on Thursday (June 18).
    The WHO said on Wednesday (June 17) South Korea's outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a "wake-up call" but does not constitute a global emergency.
    Chan said South Korean authorities' efforts to contain the spread was 'robust' and 'strong' and it needed to carry on.
    "The government has really stepped up and given very robust and strong response. And we begin to see the cases coming down so we must keep up with the efforts and hopefully within a short time we can see the outbreak under control," said Chan at the meeting.
    South Korea's Yun said that the government is trying hard to fight against the disease's outbreak.
    "I think we have to strengthen our coordination further and you're busy this time and you're meeting with many people here in Korea will pave the way for much more strengthened improved coordination in this matter. So I hope that you could see with your own eyes how intensively we are trying to fight against this problem and upgrade our control capabilities," he said.
    The outbreak has been traced to a 68-year-old South Korean man who returned from a business trip to the Middle East in early May.
    South Korea's health ministry reported on Thursday three more deaths in the country's MERS outbreak, bringing the total fatality to 23. The ministry also confirmed three new cases, taking the total to 165 in the outbreak that is the largest outside Saudi Arabia.
    More than 6,700 people are in quarantine, either at home or in health facilities.
    Three hospitals have been at least partially shut and two have been locked down with patients and medical staff inside. All of the infections known to have occurred in South Korea have taken place in healthcare facilities.
    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.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register