By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
The World Health Organization insisted Wednesday that South Korea’s MERS outbreak still does not meet the conditions for a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”
Earlier in the day, Seoul had announced the flu-like illness’ latest victim, along with eight new infections.
The disease has claimed 20 lives since the country’s first MERS-related death was confirmed at the start of the month.
Seoul’s health ministry maintains that the majority of those victims were already unwell -- but around a third of South Korea’s 162 total cases involve people under the age of 50 and without a relevant history of ill health.
MERS was discovered in humans three years ago in Saudi Arabia, where its fatality rate has exceeded 40 percent. It entered South Korea via a man returning from a trip to the Middle East last month.
On Tuesday, a WHO emergency committee convened to discuss the South Korean outbreak.
A subsequent website statement made clear that the organization is not recommending “travel or trade restrictions and considers screening at points of entry to be unnecessary at this time.”
But the WHO did concede that “there are still many gaps in knowledge regarding the transmission of this virus between people.”
A total of 83 South Korean hospitals have so far been named on an official MERS-affected list, confirming previous theories that it spreads most effectively in healthcare settings.
The WHO’s statement also issued a “wakeup call” for the modern world to be ready for outbreaks of serious infectious diseases.
