Korean schools reopen as MERS cases reach 150
Lisa Schnirring
CIDRAP News
Jun 15, 2015
Most of the schools shuttered in the wake of South Korea’s MERS-CoV outbreak reopened today, as the country reported 12 more infections, lifting the total in the hospital-linked event to 150 cases.
So far no MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) illnesses have been reported outside of healthcare settings and no cases have been detected in school children, but officials closed nearly 3,000 of them as a precaution.
A World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee on MERS-CoV meets tomorrow for the ninth time since the emerged in 2012. Its experts will assess if the latest developments warrant a public health emergency and determine if further steps are needed to curb the global spread of the disease.
Schools reopen
Reopening schools was one of the first recommendations made by a recent outbreak investigation mission by WHO experts and South Korean health officials. The team concluded its work on Jun 13 with a release of a report that said that infection control gaps had helped fuel the large and complex outbreak.
About 440 schools remained closed, a steep decline in the 2,900 that were still closed last week, Reuters reported today. Students at a kindergarten in Suwon, a city south of Seoul, were met at the school gates by teachers who took the children’s temperatures.
The reopening of schools came amid a plea from South Korean President Park Geun-hye for people and the business community to return to normal activities.
New cases, deaths
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