It isn't only in South Korea that more and more people are worried about the influenza A (H1N1) virus as the global spread of the pandemic might speed up in the coming months. On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a second wave of the disease as cold weather will soon return to the densely populated Northern Hemisphere. An earlier estimate by WHO predicted that as many as 2 billion people, or nearly one-third of the world's population, could become infected with the virus.
Korea seemed to have fared better in checking the outbreak of the virus than any other country on the planet until two deaths were reported in mid-August. What's for certain is that the spread of influenza A, also known as swine flu, is rapidly gaining speed in the country. The number of H1N1 patients surpassed the 100-mark on June 20, about one month after the first outbreak occurred here. And then the figure surged to over 1,000 on July 23. More than 3,000 Koreans have so far been diagnosed with the virus, which has killed about 1,800 people worldwide.
Right now, no one can exactly foretell the future course of the flu. But as WHO warned, there is a high possibility of the highly contagious virus becoming more prevalent this fall and winter when influenza thrives. In particular, there are growing concerns about a potential upsurge in the flu outbreaks as students are coming back to school after their summer vacations. Sixteen schools in the country have delayed their opening or remained temporarily closed because some of their students showed symptoms similar to the influenza.
The health authorities have come under fire for failing to take timely and necessary measures to contain the spread of the disease at the early stage. Some critics accused the government of neglecting to maintain a tighter quarantine system. They also pointed out that the authorities have focused too much on monitoring only those who have return home from overseas travel, even after the virus was being transmitted among non-travelers.
In conclusion, the authorities have failed in their prevention efforts, apparently because they were not on high alert over the dangers of the swine flu which originated in Mexico in April. Now, they should concentrate on securing a sufficient supply of antivirals such as Tamiflu or Relenza as well as vaccines. The country now has the stockpile of antivirals to treat 5.3 million people, or about 11 percent of the nation's entire population. It is far below the recommended stockpile to cover at least 20 percent of the population.
It is also necessary to get a supply of vaccines for 13 million people, or 27 percent of the population. On Monday, President Lee Myung-bak instructed the Cabinet to inject emergency funds to purchase additional antivirals and vaccines in order to treat patients or prevent a further spread of the flu virus. Policymakers should put their top priority on containing the influenza in a bid to guarantee public health.