South Korea reports 15th MERS death
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea yesterday reported its 15th death from the MERS virus as the growing outbreak forced one of the nation’s biggest hospitals to suspend most services.
The World Health Organization has called an emergency meeting for tomorrow on South Korea’s “large and complex” outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, the biggest outside Saudi Arabia, where it was first identified in humans in 2012.
The latest fatality was a 62-year-old man who died yesterday afternoon in the southern port city of Busan, the city council said.
He was diagnosed on June 7 after being infected at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul — a major hospital and the epicenter of more than 70 cases.
The health ministry confirmed seven new cases of the virus yesterday, including four from the Samsung hospital, bringing the total number of infections to 145.
Earlier, a paramedic who helped transport a MERS patient to the hospital on June 7 was found to be been infected. On Saturday, authorities said the ambulance driver also involved in transporting the patient — who died three days later — had also been infected.
To prevent further infections among patients and medical staff, Samsung hospital has suspended most of its operations.
It will not treat outpatients, admit new patients, or perform surgery that is not deemed urgent, hospital president Song Jae-Hoon told reporters. No visitors will be allowed, he said, adding that he would decide on June 24 whether or not to continue the partial suspension.
“We offer our deep apology and express regret to all of our patients who were infected here and those placed under quarantine,” he said.
The hospital — normally visited by more than 8,000 patients a day — has come under fire in recent weeks for failing to stem the spread of the virus among staff and patients.
Two doctors and three nurses have been infected so far. More than 400 patients, families and medical staff directly or indirectly exposed to the infected ambulance driver had been newly placed under quarantine.
The overall number of people across the nation who came into contact with patients and were put under quarantine — either at state facilities or at home — yesterday rose by more than 800 to 4,856.
As the outbreak continued to expand, a South Korean man thought to have contracted MERS was hospitalized in the Slovak capital of Bratislava on Saturday.
The 38-year-old reportedly arrived in Slovakia on June 3. He works for a subcontractor of South Korean carmaker Kia, which runs a plant in the central European country.
The man did not appear to have contact with patients or visited venues where infections were reported at home, South Korea’s foreign ministry said yesterday.
“He said he had not visited any hospital before leaving for Slovakia,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that he had contacted the embassy in Slovakia on Saturday as he was developing symptoms such as fever.
There is no vaccine or cure for MERS which, according to World Health Organization data, has a fatality rate of around 35 percent.
The outbreak in South Korea — the largest outside Saudi Arabia — began when a 68-year-old man was diagnosed on May 20 after a trip to Saudi Arabia.
The virus has since been spreading at an unusually fast pace, sparking widespread alarm in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Businesses including shopping malls and restaurants have reported a sharp drop in sales as people shun public venues.
About 100,000 foreign travellers, many from China, have canceled trips to South Korea since the beginning of this month.
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