MERS outbreak leaves over 2300 people quarantined and 1300 schools closed in South Korea

With the introduction of the MERS epidemic, over 2300 people have been reported to be quarantined with 1300 school closings.

Currently standing with a death toll of five and at least forty four infected, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus has been a major concern in South Korea. Day by day the fears grow as more people in South Korea are becoming infected with the disease.

The majority of people wear face masks in order to lower their risk of contracting the disease while carrying out their daily activities. Currently over 2300 have been quarantined and at least 1381 schools have been closed for the time being.

At the same time, people were frustrated because the government was not doing much to help the people. Most importantly, they did not announce which hospitals contained the infected patients. Three weeks later, the pressure from the people forced the government to reveal more information on what to do and where to avoid.

Most of the school closings are in Gyeonggi where the disease was first introduced by a South Korean air force member who was stationed in the United States.

South Korea has asked over 1500 people to self quarantine due to the event that they had attended an event where an infected doctor was present. They are to stay at home in order to prevent the spread of the disease.

Besides Saudi Arabia, South Korea has had one of the biggest cases of MERS. However, it is not only South Korea who is suffering from this epidemic at the moment. There have been about 1179 cases of MERS found in over 25 different countries which included the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Source: CNN