The brothers, who say they are innocent, are accused of having formed an organised criminal network in early 2021 in Romania, as well as in the US and Britain
South Korean elementary school students wear masks as a precaution against the Mers virus as they go to school in Seoul. - AP
Seoul - Experts from the World Health Organisation and South Korea on Wednesday urged the reopening of more than 2,700 schools closed over fears of the deadly Mers virus.
South Korean officials this week said the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak may have 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 on Wednesday that Park had postponed her planned US visit to focus on dealing with the outbreak.
The outbreak has killed nine people and infected more than 100 in South Korea, but has occurred only at hospitals. Mers spreads through close contact with sick people, not through the air
Even so, there have been widespread fears and rumours, and more than 2,700 schools remain closed and about 3,440 people were isolated on Wednesday because they have had contact with infected people.
“Strong consideration should be given to reopening schools, as schools have not been linked to transmission of” the Mers virus in South Korea, said 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 was not immediately 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 has ended.
But critics say the outbreak will 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.
The South Korean outbreak originated from a 68-year-old man who had travelled to the Middle East before being diagnosed as the country’s first Mers patient last month.
The brothers, who say they are innocent, are accused of having formed an organised criminal network in early 2021 in Romania, as well as in the US and Britain
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