MERS: WHO recommends reopening S. Korean schools
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Experts from the World Health Organization and South Korea on Wednesday urged the reopening of nearly 2,500 schools closed over fears of the deadly MERS virus.
South Korean officials this week said they think the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak has 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 has postponed her planned U.S. visit to focus on dealing with the outbreak.
The outbreak has killed seven and infected more than 100 in South Korea. But it has occurred only at hospitals. Infections come from close contact with the sick not the air.
Even so, there have been widespread fears and rumors, and more than 2,470 schools remain closed and about 3,440 people were isolated on Thursday because they have had contact with infected people.
"Strong consideration should be given to re-opening schools, as schools have not been linked to transmission of" the MERS virus in South Korea, according to 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's not 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 ended.
But critics say the outbreak would continue if infected people evade government quarantine measures and spread the virus.
MERS has mostly been centered 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.
