A joint South Korean-World Health Organisation mission studying an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) recommended yesterday that schools be reopened, as they were unlikely to spread the disease, just as school boards recommended more be shut.
South Korea’s Health Ministry said yesterday two more people had died from MERS and announced 13 new cases, lifting the total number of patients to 108 and prompting President Park Geun-hye to postpone a visit to the United States.
Park had been due to leave for the United States, her country’s closest ally, on Sunday. Her office said the coming week would be a “watershed” for the country’s response to the disease.
The outbreak, the largest outside Saudi Arabia, has fuelled public anxiety and hit spending, with thousands in quarantine and the number of schools closing rising to 2,474, including 22 universities. Many people on the streets are wearing face masks, public transport is being disinfected and attendance at movie theatres and baseball games has tumbled.
But the joint mission, which began its work on Tuesday, urged the government to consider reopening schools.
“Schools have not been linked to transmission of (the virus) in the Republic of Korea or elsewhere,” the mission said.
The recommendation came as the school boards of Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi announced the extension of existing school closures through Friday and recommended more to shut.
Some countries around the region have issued advisories against travel to South Korea or stepped up screening of inbound passengers, dealing a setback to a tourism sector that had been a bright spot for the flagging South Korean economy.
South Korea’s infections have all been traced to a man who developed MERS after returning from a trip to the Middle East in early May.
