Officials from the South Korean government have announced on Tuesday, July 28 that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) outbreak has finally ended in the country. The announcement came two months after the first case was detected, which led to the diagnosis of a total of 186 patients and 36 deaths.
The Health Ministry declared that only twelve people are left in the hospital for treatment and only one is testing positive for MERS-CoV; however, no new case has been detected in the last two weeks, which is the incubation period of the virus thus, the declaration. The last new case reported was made on July 4, 2015.
"It is the assessment of the government and the medical community that the public can rest easy," says Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.
The announcement, however, should not be a cause for unrestricted celebration - not yet. A spokesperson from Manila cites the requirement of the World Health Organization (WHO) to be able to declare that a MERS-CoV outbreak has finally ended. According to her, the outbreak may be considered over after 28 days without a newly reported infection. This time span is twice the number of the virus' incubation period.
Authorities are still on their toes as precautionary measures are still being strictly implemented, particularly in airports. This will run until the medical issue has completely resolved and has reached its formal end, said Kwon Duk-cheol, an official from the South Korean Health Ministry. According to him, the country is still receiving passengers from the Middle East so the possibility of new patients arriving is not completely disregarded.
The MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea holds the record for the most number of confirmed infections outside of Saudi Arabia. The number of people quarantined was nearly 17,000 but according to reports and contact tracing, the first patient who was thought to initiate the outbreak was a man, who flew from the Middle East for a business trip in May 2015.
The outbreak has caused a massive blow in the economy of South Korea. As per analysis, the country underwent its worst second-quarter economic growth since 2009 due to the outbreak. Schools, hospitals and other establishments had to close and consumers had to stay at home, dulling the industries more. Tourism also suffered as most vacationers opted to cancel their flights, resulting in an approximately 40 percent decline of foreign visitors during the outbreak. The government responded to this turmoil by approving the $9.8 billion fund to uplift the depressed economy.
At present, public places have re-opened and establishments have slowly started resuming their operations, as Hwang has recommended. Although it may be a bit early to declare the country free of MERS-CoV, he urges the public to go back to their normal lives. Meanwhile, the government will be devising and implementing changes to the health care delivery system to address the issues that were exposed during the course of the outbreak, he adds.
Photo: Michael-kay Park | Flickr
