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Tag: South Korea

  • South Korea Reports Fourth Death From MERS

    South Korea Reports Fourth Death From MERS

    South Korea Friday reported its fourth death from an outbreak of the MERS virus that has infected dozens of people, seen hundreds of schools closed and caused thousands to cancel travel plans.

    The health ministry had also confirmed five new cases, Yonhap news agency reported, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus in South Korea to 41, the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.

    The latest fatality was a 76-year-old patient who died Thursday after testing positive for the virus on May 21, Yonhap said.

    That case comes shortly after the country’s third MERS death was confirmed Thursday, that of an 82-year-old man who was diagnosed after he died in hospital on Wednesday night.

    He was originally being treated for asthma and pneumonia but was placed under quarantine after other patients in his ward tested positive for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

    More than 900 schools, from kindergartens to colleges, have now shut their gates and the government’s MERS hotline took more than 3,000 calls on Wednesday as public fears have grown.

    Before Thursday only two people — a 58-year-old woman and a 71-year-old man — had died in South Korea from the disease, which has no cure or vaccine.

    The first case, reported on May 20, was of a 68-year-old man diagnosed after a trip to Saudi Arabia.

    Since then, more than 1,660 people who may have been exposed to the virus have been placed under varying levels of quarantine.

    While around 160 were isolated at state-designated facilities, most were told to stay home and strictly limit their interactions with other people.

    MERS has now infected more than 1,100 people globally, with 437 deaths. More than 20 countries have been affected, with most cases in Saudi Arabia.

    The virus is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds of people when it appeared in Asia in 2003.

    The World Health Organization said it expected more infections in South Korea, but stressed that there was “no evidence of sustained transmission in the community”.

     

    Source: www.scmp.com

  • South Korea Police Bans LGBT Pride Parade

    South Korea Police Bans LGBT Pride Parade

    For the first time since 1990, the South Korea Pride Parade was rejected by the police.

    Namdaemun Police Station and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency denied permit for the march, expecting a standoff between LGBT and Christian groups.

    Last year, groups affiliated to the Church laid on the road, blocking the parade. Their protest caused major traffic jams and created tension with the LGBT community. A witness in attendance recalled the standoff:

    “The people on the floor were cordoned off by the police but it took police a long while to actually try to move the. Also, many of the protestors shouted at the pride goers and some spat at us too.”

    This year, the Korea Queer Culture Festival (KQCF) applied for a public space to hold the parade with the Seoul Police Agency. The application was rejected as the space was already reserved by the “Love Your Country, Love Your Children Movement,” an anti-gay Christian group.

    Members of the LGBT community tried to secure a new space in Namdaemun. Although the police station would only begin accepting applications May 29 for rallies to be held on June 28, members of the Christian group as well as the LGBT community lined up on May 20 to submit their application.

    Both groups waited all day and night, with people taking turns to sleep and eat. Various groups and individuals donated food to the LGBT supporters waiting in line, which local delivery service The Bird Riders brought to the station.

    Unfortunately their wait was in vein. On May 30, police issued a prohibition notice based on Article 8 of the Act on Assemblies and Demonstrations that banned both groups from holding street marches:

    “Rallies may be banned wherever two or more rallies are planned by groups with conflicting goals and on Article 12 where rallies may be banned whenever there is a possibility of inconvenience to pedestrian and vehicle traffic.”

    Kang Myung-jin, chief organizer of KQCF, requested a meeting with the head officer who made the decision. The police did not allow Kang to meet with them and turned them away. The KQCF released a press statement Monday:

    “The decision is suppressing the right of sexual minorities to speak up against society, as well as instigating hatred and violence against sexual minorities. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Seoul Namdaemun-gu Police Station should withdraw its ban on outdoor rallies on May 30th, 2015 at once, and should guarantee the Pride Parade at KQF to be held safely and peacefully.”

     

    Source: www.out.com

  • Measures Are In Place To Prevent MERS Outbreak In Singapore

    Measures Are In Place To Prevent MERS Outbreak In Singapore

    Local hospitals have been reminded to remain vigilant and to stand ready to screen and isolate individuals suspected to suffer from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Coronavirus, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Wednesday (Jun 3).

    South Korea has confirmed five more cases of MERS, the Korean health ministry said early on Wednesday, bringing to 30 the total number of cases in the country of the often-deadly illness. All cases of infection in South Korea have been limited to household and hospital contacts among the patients, and all have been linked to the first identified case. Given this, the Health Ministry said there is no evidence of sustained community transmission in South Korea.

    MOH revealed in a press release that three categories of patients with clinical signs or symptoms of pneumonia or severe respiratory infection with breathlessness, who travelled to the Middle East in the two weeks before onset, will be referred to any of its public and private hospitals for further evaluation to exclude the infection.

    Patients from South Korea, and also those with fever and respiratory illness of any severity who had visited a healthcare facility while in the Middle East or South Korea will also be similarly referred, according to MOH.

    Clinics said they will step up their precautionary measures on the Health Ministry’s advice.

    “So when the situation gets worse, the Ministry of Health will tell us that we need to be vigilant and more alert about it,” said Dr Philip Koh, family physician at Healthway Tampines Clinic. “Then we will have to don our personal protective equipment, which is our masks, our gloves, and our goggles and basically the clinic will be turned into a pandemic centre of preparedness.”

    “What happens is when a patient comes in, who is suspected of having fever, cough and breathlessness, will be attended to by a nurse donned with this personal protective equipment at the entrance,” added Dr Koh.

    The Ministry said that temperature screening at air checkpoints for passengers arriving from the Middle East have been in place since May 18 last year. It said that health advisories continue to be in place at the local border checkpoints for travelers coming from and going to areas affected by MERS, and that screening may be ramped up to include passengers arriving from South Korea should evidence of sustained community spread turn up.

    SIA HAS PLANS TO MINIMISE DISEASE SPREAD

    Also on Wednesday, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) spokesperson assured that the national carrier has measures – “both on the ground and on board” – in place to “minimise the spread of diseases”. These include passenger screening by airport ground personnel.

    “If any passenger appears to be unwell, he or she will be asked to see a doctor immediately. We will not carry any passenger whom we believe is a risk to others on board,” the spokesperson told Channel NewsAsia.

    SIA added that it has developed standard operating procedures to handle various medical emergencies, including infectious diseases.

    The airline said these measures “will be coupled with the health regulations implemented by local authorities”, citing cabin crew basic first-aid training as one of such measures.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • South Korea Health Chief Apologises Over MERS Outbreak

    South Korea Health Chief Apologises Over MERS Outbreak

    Seoul (AFP) – South Korea’s health minister apologised on Sunday for failing to halt an outbreak of the MERS virus, vowing “utmost efforts” to curb the disease’s spread as the number infected rose to 15.

    “We apologise for causing concern and anxiety among people due to… our initial judgement on the contagiousness of MERS,” Minister Moon Hyung-Pyo told reporters.

    Moon added this week would be a “critical period” to contain the spread of MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which can cause symptoms ranging from flu-like aches and pains to pneumonia and kidney failure.

    “We are making our utmost efforts to prevent the further spread of the disease,” Moon said, urging the public not to panic.

    Health officials have come under fire for allowing an infected man to travel to China despite warnings from doctors.

    The 44-year-old left on a business trip on Tuesday, a day after his father was diagnosed with the virus, and was confirmed Friday to have been infected himself.

    The man flew to Hong Kong before travelling by bus to the Chinese city of Huizhou, where he is currently being treated under quarantine.

    Dozens of people — including his colleagues and passengers who sat near him on the same flight — have been or are expected to be examined or quarantined.

    The current outbreak has meanwhile been traced to a 68-year-old man diagnosed on May 20 after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia.

    The 14 others who acquired the virus were patients in the same hospital as the man, their relatives or hospital staff with whom he came into contact.

    Moon said the hospital where the first outbreak was reported has been closed and all patients were being treated in quarantine, but would not disclose its name or location for fear of spreading panic.

    MERS is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds of people when it appeared in Asia in 2003.

    A total of 129 people who were exposed directly or indirectly to the patients have been quarantined or put under special observation so far.

    But “a far greater number” will be quarantined or put under observation this week as more people were diagnosed with the disease over the weekend, health officials said.

    More than 20 countries have been affected by the virus with no known cure or vaccine, with most cases in Saudi Arabia where more than 400 have been killed since 2012.

    The South’s outbreak of MERS is the largest among countries outside the Middle East.

     

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com