Ten patients tested negative for MERS, gov't keeps close watch to tackle disease
- 6 years ago
Amid fears of MERS spreading further... health officials announced that 10 people who came into contact with the first MERS patient tested negative for the virus.
But health authorities are continuing to monitor the situation around-the-clock with others still on the watchlist.
Yoon Jung-min reports.
All ten people who were tested after coming into contact with a man recently diagnosed with MERS... have been confirmed free of the virus as of Wednesday.
The discharged patients, however, still remain on the quarantine agency's watchlist.
On Tuesday, a passenger from Dubai showed similar symptoms and was quarantined in a medical center on arrival.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are keeping a close eye on dozens of others who came into contact with the first patient, including passengers, flight attendants and medical workers.
Those people have been placed under quarantine at home.
Health authorities were criticized, however, as the original patient was carried to hospital by an ordinary ambulance rather than the one designed to block air circulation.
The deadly virus easily spreads through the air and patients require a special facility to prevent contaminated air spreading.
The health authorities earlier said they used the special ambulance, but it was later found to be false.
The government is tracking those who contacted the first patient, but the whereabouts of some 30 people still remains unknown.
The Seoul Metropolitan government also launched a task force to tackle the virus ahead of the country's major Chuseok holiday later this month.
The original patient was diagnosed with MERS and hospitalized on Saturday after he returned home from a business trip in Kuwait.
Korea was hit hard by an outbreak in 2015, which infected more than 180 people nationwide and caused 38 deaths.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.
But health authorities are continuing to monitor the situation around-the-clock with others still on the watchlist.
Yoon Jung-min reports.
All ten people who were tested after coming into contact with a man recently diagnosed with MERS... have been confirmed free of the virus as of Wednesday.
The discharged patients, however, still remain on the quarantine agency's watchlist.
On Tuesday, a passenger from Dubai showed similar symptoms and was quarantined in a medical center on arrival.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are keeping a close eye on dozens of others who came into contact with the first patient, including passengers, flight attendants and medical workers.
Those people have been placed under quarantine at home.
Health authorities were criticized, however, as the original patient was carried to hospital by an ordinary ambulance rather than the one designed to block air circulation.
The deadly virus easily spreads through the air and patients require a special facility to prevent contaminated air spreading.
The health authorities earlier said they used the special ambulance, but it was later found to be false.
The government is tracking those who contacted the first patient, but the whereabouts of some 30 people still remains unknown.
The Seoul Metropolitan government also launched a task force to tackle the virus ahead of the country's major Chuseok holiday later this month.
The original patient was diagnosed with MERS and hospitalized on Saturday after he returned home from a business trip in Kuwait.
Korea was hit hard by an outbreak in 2015, which infected more than 180 people nationwide and caused 38 deaths.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.