An outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus occurred in South Korea from May 2015 to July 2015. The virus, which causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), was a newly emerged betacoronavirus that was first identified in a patient from Saudi Arabia in April 2012. From the outbreak, a total of 910 cases were infected in the country, with a death toll of 89.
Outbreak South Korea reported its first MERS case on 20 May 2015. A 68-year-old man returning from the Middle East was diagnosed with MERS nine days after he initially sought medical help.
The following table shows the daily statistics on the number of infected persons since 20 May 2015, based on the official report of the Central MERS Management Task Force, Ministry of Health and Welfare at the beginning of each day.
Date Cases Deaths 20 May 2015 2 0 21 May 2015 3 0 26 May 2015 5 0 27 May 2015 5 0 28 May 2015 7 0 29 May 2015 13 0 30 May 2015 15 0 31 May 2015 18 0 1 June 2015 25 1 2 June 2015 30 1 3 June 2015 30 3 4 June 2015 36 4 5 June 2015 42 5 6 June 2015 64 5 7 June 2015 87 5 8 June 2015 95 7 9 June 2015 108 7 10 June 2015 122 9 11 June 2015 126 10 12 June 2015 138 13 13 June 2015 145 14 14 June 2015 150 16 15 June 2015 154 19 16 June 2015 162 19 17 June 2015 165 23 18 June 2015 166 24 19 June 2015 166 24 20 June 2015 169 25 21 June 2015 172 27 22 June 2015 175 27 23 June 2015 179 27 24 June 2015 180 29 25 June 2015 181 31 26 June 2015 182 31 27 June 2015 182 32 28 June 2015 182 32 29 June 2015 182 33 30 June 2015 182 33 1 July 2015 183 33 2 July 2015 184 33 3 July 2015 185 33 4 July 2015 186 33 5 July 2015 186 33 6 July 2015 186 33 7 July 2015 186 35 8 July 2015 186 35 9 July 2015 186 35 10 July 2015 186 36 11 July 2015 186 36 12 July 2015 186 36 13 July 2015 186 36 14 July 2015 186 36 15 July 2015 186 36 16 July 2015 186 36 17 July 2015 186 36 18 July 2015 186 36 19 July 2015 186 36 20 July 2015 186 36 21 July 2015 186 36 22 July 2015 186 36 23 July 2015 186 36 24 July 2015 186 36 25 July 2015 186 36 26 July 2015 186 36 27 July 2015 186 36 28 July 2015 ~ 24 October 2015 186 36 25 October 2015 186 37 26 October 2015 ~ 24 November 2015 186 37 25 November 2015 186 38 26 November 2015 ~ 28 September 2016 186 38 Includes a case reported in China
Parentheses indicate interim value
Main transmission route and event timeline
Government reaction The Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare initially withheld details from the public, as identifying the medical institution treating a MERS patient might cause unnecessary anxiety to its other patients. This policy lacked public acceptance, and was heavily criticized as preventing the Ministry from properly notifying hospitals and municipal governments. On 3 June, it was found that the Ministry had not notified the Incheon municipal government of the transfer of an infected patient to its local medical institution. The following day the Seoul municipal government announced that it had learned by chance, through an official attending a meeting, that a hospital doctor, who began to show symptoms on 29 May and tested positive on 1 June, had been moving freely within the city and had attended a gathering of 1,565 people in Gaepo-dong on 30 May.<ref name =SeoulMayor ></ref> The municipal government obtained a list of the 1,565; the Ministry proposed to undertake "passive surveillance"; the municipal government rejected this as "lukewarm" and intervened directly: initially by contacting those listed.
On 7 June, after 2,361 people were isolated, 64 patients were confirmed infected and 5 had died, the central government finally disclosed the names of MERS-exposed medical institutions.
Hospitals On 7 June 2015, the South Korean government released the names of 24 MERS-affected hospitals to the public. These hospitals include the Pyeongtaek St. Mary's (SeongMo) Hospital (평택성모병원) and the Seoul Samsung Hospital (삼성서울병원), an affiliate of Samsung Medical Center.
+ Hospitals where confirmed MERS cases were exposed, as of 12 July 2015, 11:00HospitalKorean nameCity/ProvinceNo. of casesSamsung Medical Center삼성서울병원Gangnam-gu/ Seoul 90 Pyeongtaek St. Mary's Hospital평택성모병원 Pyeongtaek/ Gyeonggi Province 37 Dae Cheong Hospital대청병원Seo-gu/ Daejeon 14 KonYang University Hospital건양대학교병원 Seo-gu/ Daejeon 11Hallym University Medical Centre한림대학교동탄성심병원 Hwaseong/ Gyeonggi Province6Gangdong Gyeonghee University Hospital 강동경희대학교의대병원 Gangdong-gu/ Seoul5Gunguk University Hospital건국대병원 Gwangjin-gu/ Seoul4Pyeongtaek Good Morning Hospital평택굿모닝병원 Pyeongtaek/ Gyeonggi Province4 Asan Seoul Clinic아산서울의원Asan / Chungnam Province1Yangji Samsung Medical Center양지 서울삼성의원 Yongin/ Gyeonggi Province1 365 Yeol Lin Clinic365 열린의원 Gangdong-gu/ Seoul 1Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital가톨릭대학교 여의도성모병원 Yeongdeungpo-gu/ Seoul1Asan Medical Center서울아산병원 Songpa-gu/ Seoul 1Good gang-an Hospital좋은강안병원 Suyeong-gu/ Busan1Dr. Song Clinic송태의 내과 Songpa-gu/ Seoul 1Others (outside hospitals, under investigation) 7Total 186
Related incidents A 44-year-old South Korean man travelled to Huizhou, China via Hong Kong,<ref name =ReutersBeijingHK ></ref> on business, on 26 May, contrary to a doctor's advice and in breach of a self-quarantine order from the government: his father and elder sister were both confirmed infected by MERS.<ref name =AppleHK > </ref> He was later found to have a fever,<ref name =AppleHK /> and was subsequently confirmed infected.<ref name =ReutersBeijingHK /> He was suspected of dishonestly failing to disclose to Hong Kong border quarantine officers that he had visited his father in hospital on 16 May for nearly 4 hours.<ref name =AppleHK />
On 30 May 2015, a website said that a driver in Huizhou who transported a South Korean male MERS patient was suspected to be infected but later the government clarified that this was a rumor.
A Chinese fugitive who stayed in South Korea for 3 years turned himself in as he was afraid of the outbreak. He arrived at Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport on 4 June.
On 8 June 2015, a South Korean couple who did not follow the self-quarantine notice were found to have visited the Philippines on 6 June. They had visited the respective clinics in Sunchang County where a 72-year-old woman was confirmed positive for MERS after having visited the clinic for lumbago treatment. The couple said that they only knew that the 72-year-old woman was a MERS-positive patient only after reading the news.
On 9 June 2015, two Hong Kong students from City University of Hong Kong doing a three-month exchange program in Sungkyunkwan University were ordered by a professor to get out of the classroom as they refused to remove their protective masks. The professor also said that they were too sensitive to the outbreak because of the history of SARS in Hong Kong in 2003. Sungkyunkwan University replied that some professors saw wearing masks as impolite and said if students insist on wearing masks, they might be refused to give presentations in class and may be unable to graduate due to this. Affected students said this reflected that the South Korean public was not attentive to the threat of the MERS outbreak.
On 25 June, a South Korean man who had been treated at a Chinese hospital after being diagnosed with the MERS virus in late May, was released from the hospital and returned to South Korea.
Effects
Education The following table shows the number of schools that temporarily closed due to the outbreak: Date Number of schools closed 2 June 2015 84 3 June 2015 214 4 June 2015 1,162 5 June 2015 1,317 7 June 2015 1,381 (7 in Gyeonggi Province) 8 June 2015 1,970 9 June 2015 2,208 15 June 2015 475
Economy On 11 June 2015, South Korea's central bank the interest rate from 1.75% to 1.5% to soften the financial impact of the outbreak
South Korea's department store sales decreased by 16.5% compared to the same period last year, and retail shops also decreased 3.4%, according to the Minister of Strategy and Finance, as of 17 June 2015.
As of 17 June 2015, 100,000 tourist visits to the nation had been cancelled.
Testing infrastructure
After the outbreak, South Korea developed a system to rapidly expand testing capabilities during future disease outbreaks. This has been credited as a reason for South Korea's widespread testing and effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
See also South Korea foot-and-mouth outbreak
References
External links MERS.go.kr, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention MERS Propagation Path, infographics by KBS News (in Korean). Anatomy of the South Korean MERS outbreak, infographics by Science News