Mers in South Korea

10 things must know about Mers from Korea Ministry of Health and welfare

Rapid Risk Assessment from European CDC ( ECDC ) on 11 June 2015

excerpts:

WHO Press Release - Joint Korea - WHO mission and high level messages excerpts:

The mission confirmed that the virus is currently clustered around health facilities and found no evidence that it was circulating in the community. “However, continued monitoring for this is critical,” says Dr Fukuda.

Several factors appear to have contributed to the initial spread of this virus.

• The appearance of MERS-CoV was unexpected and unfamiliar to most physicians
• Infection prevention and control measures in hospitals were not optimal
• Extremely crowded Emergency Rooms and multi-bed rooms contributed significantly to nosocomial infection in some hospitals.
• The practice of seeking care at a number of medical facilities(“doctor shopping”) may have been a contributing factor
• The custom of having many friends and family members accompanying or visiting patients may have contributed to secondary spread of infection among contacts.

The most important steps recommended by the mission to stop further cases of MERS-CoV in the Republic of Korea included:

• Early and complete identification of all contacts;

• Quarantine or isolation and monitoring of all contacts and suspected cases;

• Full implementation of infection, prevention and control measures;

• Prevention of travel, especially internationally, of infected persons and contacts.

online update of cases statistics from KBS

interactive GIS Map: Mers Map

Mers Map: Homers( Korean's name for Mers) spread map