South Korea’s Park postpones U.S. Trip as MERS Cases rise

South Korean President Park Geun-hye postponed a U.S. visit on Wednesday to supervise the handling of an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), as two more people died and 13 new cases were reported, lifting the total number of patients to 108.

Park had been due to leave for the United States, her country’s closest ally, on Sunday and meet President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Her office said the coming week would be a “watershed” for the country’s response to the disease.

The outbreak 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, while attendance at movie theatres and baseball games has dwindled.

First identified in humans in 2012, MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered China’s deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). There is no cure or vaccine.

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.

The main Incheon airport said the number of passenger arrivals increased year on year between May 20 and June 5, but showed 25 percent and 31 percent drops on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Taiwan’s two biggest airlines are temporarily cutting flights to South Korea by nearly half. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (0293.HK) said it had seen a drop in bookings to South Korea.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which began work on Tuesday with South Korea to analyse the virus and review the response, has not recommended any curbs on travel or trade.

MERS has also taken its toll on high street shopping, with department store sales falling 25 percent in the first week of June compared with an average of the first two weeks of May, government data showed. Sales at discount stores fell 7.2 percent, but online purchases rose 3.2 percent.

Cinema ticket sales dropped 54.9 percent in the first week of June from the year-earlier period. Visitors to amusement parks plummeted 60.4 percent and to baseball games, 38.7 percent.

 

“Please do not be excessively worried or hold misunderstanding, and try to go on with your daily lives,” Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan told a televised news briefing, urging consumers to continue spending money.

The latest two deaths, both cancer patients, bring the number of fatalities to nine. All of those who died had been suffering serious ailments before they tested positive for MERS virus, the Health Ministry said.

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 and who came into contact with other patients at a hospital before being diagnosed.

All subsequent infections, including the 13 announced on Wednesday, have been linked to health facilities, the ministry said.

The number of people who may have been in contact with MERS patients and were now in quarantine rose to 3,439, while quarantine has been lifted for 641 people, the ministry said.

Choi, also the finance minister, announced a 400 billion won ($357 million) financial package for business and regions affected by MERS, without giving specifics.

South Korea’s central bank is expected to cut interest rates on Thursday to dampen the economic impact of the outbreak, according to a Reuters poll of analysts released on Tuesday.

South Korea’s new cases bring the total number of MERS cases globally to 1,257 based on WHO data, with at least 448 related deaths. The country has the second highest number of cases after Saudi Arabia, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Source: Reuters