By Jhoo Dong-chan
Concern is mounting over a lack of quarantine facilities for people who are confirmed to have, or suspected of having contracted, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said earlier that hospitals could hold 150 people with MERS. However, it said Wednesday that the government has isolated a total of 1,312 people to limit the spread of the disease.
Of them, only 103 are quarantined at the facilities, while more than 1,200 are staying at home without contacting other people following government orders.
The government said it is expanding the number of hospitals to admit more suspected people to, but it will take time while the number of such people is snowballing rapidly.
Thus, concerns are rising whether the government can control those at home, since all it does is check their conditions twice a day via phone calls.
“The government does not fully monitor people quarantined at home,” 59-year-old Seoul citizen Yoon Hoi-duk, said. “What if a person next me is supposed to stay at home for MERS but hangs around a downtown area like Myeongdong?”
A woman in her 50s who was ordered to stay at home left her place to play golf with her friends Tuesday. She took a bus to get to a golf club in North Jolla Province before being caught by police.
The ministry said that it would designate a place for the exclusive treatment of MERS patients.
It was alleged that the government was considering designating a training center in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, as a facility to quarantine infected or suspected people.
Residents there strongly protested the plan.
“Chungju is not an ideal place for such facility,” said Chungju Mayor Cho Kil-hyoung. “The training center is close to schools and kindergartens. I believe the government should designate a facility near where most MERS cases have occurred.”
Facing strong opposition, the health ministry immediately denied the report.
“We haven’t decided where to designate such a facility,” said a ministry official.
“The Chungju site is just one of our options. But we need such exclusive facilities as soon as possible because an increasing number of people need to be quarantined.”
The authority had isolated more than 1,300 people.
A MERS outbreak is likely to grow as an increasing number of people are reportedly infected by the disease.
The first MERS case in Korea, confirmed May 20 was a 68-year-old man who had traveled to four Middle Eastern countries. He developed symptoms May 11 and visited two clinics and two hospitals. A number of medical staff and hospital patients, as well as their family members and visitors, were exposed to him.
There were 30 people infected and two dead as of Wednesday.