Military Takes Drastic Measures Against Flu
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Soldiers have been barred from taking leave and getting overnight passes or receiving visits from outside in order to block the transmission of the fast-spreading influenza A (H1N1) virus.
Training schedules for reserve forces, about 300,000 in total, have also been cancelled, the Ministry of National Defense announced Wednesday.
Those who are confirmed as patients or are suspected of contracting the flu will have their mandatory military drafting deferred.
"To contain transmission, the commanders will be given discretion in troop mobilization," a ministry official said. "Soldiers will be discharged as scheduled and be given emergency leave, but regular holidays and overnight passes will be suspended."
A total of 1,455 soldiers were confirmed as patients as of Wednesday. A total of 1,369 have fully recovered, with the rest being treated at military hospitals.
The defense ministry will have vaccinated its medical staff by Thursday and complete all inoculations by February.
The National Emergency Management Agency suspended the training of 650,000 members of the civil defense corps.
The measures came as the central government raised the national alert level to its highest Wednesday.
On its first day of activation, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters was trying to bring all involved parties on board. The office was tallying the number of patients and fatalities, health authorities said.
As of Wednesday, the death toll had risen to 45. A three-year-old boy, who was hospitalized for an extraordinarily high fever, was among them. According to authorities, the victim had no prior health problems and was given the anti-viral drug Tamiflu but died Oct. 30.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs approved the use of vaccines on those under nine years old. The drug will be available for children from Nov. 16.