MERS virus outbreak: WHO, South Korean experts call for schools to be reopened

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Outbreak has killed seven and infected more than 100 in South Korea


Elementary school students wearing masks to prevent contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) wait in a line outside their classroom at an elementary school in Seoul early Tuesday.
Elementary school students wearing masks to prevent contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) wait in a line outside their classroom at an elementary school in Seoul early Tuesday. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)
Experts from the World Health Organization and South Korea on Wednesday urged the reopening of more than 2,700 schools closed over fears of the deadly MERS virus.
South Korean officials this week said the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak may have peaked but that the next several days would be crucial to determining whether their efforts to isolate infected patients had stymied the disease. President Park Geun-hye's office announced earlier Wednesday that Park had postponed her planned U.S. visit to focus on dealing with the outbreak.
The outbreak has killed nine people and infected more than 100 in South Korea, but has occurred only at hospitals. MERS spreads through close contact with sick people, not through the air

    Even so, there have been widespread fears and rumours, and more than 2,700 schools remain closed and about 3,440 people were isolated Wednesday because they have had contact with infected people.
    "Strong consideration should be given to reopening schools, as schools have not been linked to transmission of" the MERS virus in South Korea, said a release from the joint WHO-South Korea mission tasked with reviewing the outbreak.
    Other South Korean doctors have already described the massive school closures as nonsensical because there has been no evidence of the virus' transmission in the community.
    It was not immediately known how many schools would follow the recommendation. But South Korean officials hope the outbreak will come under control around Friday, the last day of the virus' maximum two-week incubation period for those infected by a patient considered as the main source of the second round of the MERS outbreak. Officials say the first wave of the outbreak has ended.
    But critics say the outbreak will continue if infected people evade government quarantine measures and spread the virus.
    South Korea MERS
    A charity group gives free hand sanitizer to people to protect against possible the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus on the street in Seoul on Wednesday. (Ahn Young-joon/Associated Press)
    MERS has mostly been centred in Saudi Arabia. It belongs to the family of coronaviruses that includes the common cold and SARS, and can cause fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure.
    The South Korean outbreak originated from a 68-year-old man who had travelled to the Middle East before being diagnosed as the country's first MERS patient last month.

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