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S. Korea hopes to declare itself MERS-free by late July

July 1, 2015

A poster at the entrance of Deoksu Palace in central Seoul reads Wednesday that free admission is available for the capital’s four palaces, the Jongmyo Shrine and Royal Tombs in July. The free admission is part of the government effort to revitalize the nation’s tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome epidemic. (Yonhap)

By Kim Rahn

The government is cautiously weighing when to declare Korea free from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

The country has not had any new cases of the disease for four consecutive days since Sunday. If the situation continues, the government may declare itself MERS-free as early as later this month, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The ministry said Wednesday that there were no new cases besides the already confirmed 182. No more deaths were reported, so the fatality rate remained at 18.1 percent.

Signs are becoming more evident that the outbreak is waning.

What is encouraging is that no new cases were reported from Hallym University Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital in eastern Seoul and Kaiser Rehabilitation Hospital in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, which were feared to become new epicenters of the disease.

The nation’s 173rd patient stayed at the Sacred Heart Hospital from June 17 to 22 while being treated for pneumonia. The ministry has placed 4,825 people who visited the hospital during that time in isolation and monitored them. The incubation period of the virus, a maximum of 14 days, will end there on July 6.

At Kaiser, the 170th patient visited the hospital and the incubation period will pass on July 4.

“The incubation period of the virus at all such hospitals will end on July 12,” Jeong Eun-kyung, head of the ministry’s MERS response team, said. “If a new case is confirmed before the date, the monitoring period will be extended. So we are closely watching the situation.”

Another team member, Professor Eom Joong-sik at the Sacred Heart Hospital, also said regional health authorities are receiving less and less requests for MERS tests.

“The team is considering declaring the country MERS-free if no case is reported for 28 days, twice the incubation period, since the last confirmation,” Eom told the Munhwa Ilbo.

“We sent an inquiry about it to the World Health Organization (WHO) and if it agrees, we may be able to declare Korea free from MERS around July 25.”

In case of Ebola and other infectious diseases, the WHO usually declares the end of a disease when no new cases are reported for twice the disease’s incubation period.

Meanwhile, two patients recovered from the disease and were released from quarantine facilities, raising the total number to 97 and the ratio of recovery to 53.3 percent.

Forty others are still being treated, and 12 of them are in an unstable condition, according to the ministry.