Korean diagnosed with MERS in China
12 cases confirmed, 120 quarantined and more suspected
By Jung Min-ho
A Korean man who flew to China despite exhibiting the symptoms of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was confirmed to have contracted the deadly virus, Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday.
Chinese health authorities came to the conclusion after conducting two tests on the 44-year-old, the ministry said. He is the first-ever MERS patient confirmed in China.
The ministry’s latest report raised the number of Korean patients diagnosed with the virus to 12, the largest number among non-Middle Eastern countries.
The ministry is scrambling to track down people he had contact with at home, his workplace and the airport before he took an Asiana Airlines flight bound for to Hong Kong, Tuesday, and then a coach to Guangdong. It will send several epidemiologists to China.
However, the task of finding everyone he was in contact with over 11 days and to keep all of them under quarantine is expected to be difficult. Ministry officials believe that he contracted MERS from the country’s first patient, a 68-year-old man, at a hospital on May 16 when he visited his father who shared a ward with the man and later became the third patient.
Some 120 people have already been quarantined in Korea, including the 10th patient’s colleagues, flight attendants and one passenger who sat near him on the plane. Other passengers near him will be quarantined immediately when they return to Korea.
Some worry that the ministry’s mishandling of the virus could negatively affect Korea’s diplomatic relations with China. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shrugged off the concern.
“Given that it was an individual’s behavior and was not intentional, the case is unlikely to be addressed on the national level,” a foreign ministry official told The Korea Times. “At the moment, the ministry will not express a formal regret or apology to Beijing over the matter.”
The official said that if a Chinese patient came to Korea in similar situation, Seoul would also not demand an apology.
Besides the man in China, four additional cases of MERS were reported Friday.
The condition of two of the MERS patients deteriorated sharply Friday, so medical staff put them on respirators to support their breathing, the ministry said.
When it confirmed the first patient a week ago, the ministry played down the danger of the virus, saying it “had little risk” of spreading further.
But rather than petering out, the virus seems to be ramping up. As fear of MERS spreads quickly, Minister Moon Hyung-pyo has vowed to contain it “by any means possible.”
“We will set up a tighter quarantine system to dispel public concern,” he said. “Since the first case was found, we tried to keep it under control. But the moves weren’t enough.”
Vice Minister Jang Ok-joo has taken charge after Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Yang Byung-kook apparently failed to do his job.
The ministry said it plans to fine medical staff who do not report suspected cases to the government, and people who refuse to have tests even after showing MERS-like symptoms, 2 million won ($1,800).
Suspected patients are supposed to stay at home or at ministry-designated hospitals after coming into close contact with someone with MERS and undergo regular monitoring.
But the monitoring was obviously patchy; the patient in China had no problem passing through immigration at Incheon International Airport and getting on a plane, which had 158 passengers and eight crewmembers onboard.
MERS is a viral respiratory illness that has a fatality rate of about 40 percent and no specific treatment. Since the first case was confirmed in Saudi Arabia in 2012, over 1,100 cases have been reported in 23 countries.
A MERS vaccine is unlikely to be available anytime soon. Experts say it will take years for any effective vaccine to be tested and approved by regulators.