Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Emirates Airlines withholds list of passengers in possible contact with MERS patient
By Kim Hyun-bin
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) is having difficulty receiving passenger information on an Emirates Airlines flight that carried a man who was confirmed to have been infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
The 61-year-old man departed from Kuwait for Incheon with a transfer at Dubai, and later tested positive for MERS after arriving in Korea.
The KCDC obtained a list of passengers on the flight from Dubai to Incheon and has been monitoring them, especially those who sat close to the patient. But it has not obtained a list for the flight from Kuwait to Dubai.
“We need passenger information on the flight from Kuwait to Dubai to verify who sat around the patient, but we have been unable to receive it,” a KCDC official said. “We have submitted a request for cooperation to the Emirates Airlines.”
The patient took Emirates flight EK860 at 10:35 a.m. Sept. 6 and transferred to Emirates flight EK322 bound for Incheon the following day at 3:47 a.m.
“The airline does not want to release the passenger list for the first plane as the flight did not land in Korea, citing privacy issues, which is why it is taking a long time to confirm,” the KCDC official said.
More than 400 people, including passengers on the second plane, came into possible contact with the patient. They are being monitored and have to report to the quarantine authorities about their everyday condition, according to the KCDC.
Of them, 10 people who had shown MERS-like symptoms have tested negative for the disease and were released from quarantine.
The KCDC is also strengthening efforts to prevent the deadly virus from entering the country, including double checking passengers with symptoms such as diarrhea and muscle pain.
The move comes as the MERS patient was able to pass through airport quarantine even after reporting diarrhea symptoms as he had no signs of respiratory problems or fever.
MERS is a coronavirus respiratory disease with a fatality rate of up to 36 percent, contracted through contact with infected camels and spread through close contact with a MERS-infected person.
Korea was hit with an outbreak in 2015, causing 38 deaths and infecting 186 people.