MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome)

[skylee]

There is an outbreak of MERS in South Korea, and the disease has entered Mainland China via a Korean man who went through HK without telling the quarantine staff that he had had previous contact with a MERS patient. That man is now hospitalised in China. And South Korea does not seem to be taking the outbreak very seriously.

Thoughts? (Apart from that this time Korea can claim that this MERS outbreak really originated in Korea …)

[889]

More significantly, 18 people are under MERS quarantine in HK, including two who were effectively arrested after they refused to accept quarantine.

 

And the Korean who slipped through HK lied, telling airport staff he felt fine when he actually had a fever and cough.

[dwq]

19 now. A Korean tourist, who was on the same plane as the first patient and returned to Korea before it is discovered, re-visited HK and was promptly stopped at HK customs and sent to quarantine.

http://www.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20150601/bkn-20150601184926608-0601_00822_001.html

[skylee]

I think we in HK are extremely concerned/ scared about any epidemics. It is hard to understand why South Korea was so relaxed about this.

[889]

Well, the Koreans were leaving Korea.

 

(Actually, I think the memory of SARS remains very strong in HK.)

[imron]

It is hard to understand why South Korea was so relaxed about this.

I think it's like 889 said, HK was hit hard by SARS and Korea wasn't.

[oceancalligraphy]

 

 

I think we in HK are extremely concerned/ scared about any epidemics. It is hard to understand why South Korea was so relaxed about this. 

 

I'm having a hard time understanding South Korea's relaxed attitude as well.

 

Taiwan's airports have had thermal imaging cameras since SARS. There were signs about MERS at least three years ago. I remember because I kept wondering what MERS was. Those nurses are really strict too - any slight temperature deviation from the camera and you're pulled aside for temperature taking.

[889]

Hong Kong has now started to segregate arrivals from Korea until after the health check:

 

http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20150605/bkn-20150605155538973-0605_00822_001.html (in Chinese)

[skylee]

The number of confirmed cases in South Korea has increased to 87, and the disease has spread to Busan, the second largest city of the country.

I hope the HK Government will issue a travel warning soon.

[Flickserve]

HK Department of Health advises to avoid unnecessary travel to Korea.

Big difference to SARS as the virus is already known.

[dwq]

It is really stupid that they issued what is effectively a 紅色旅遊警示 without ACTUALLY issuing one (well it has to come from another department but the situation is stupid) causing problems for both travellers who booked tours to Korea and the tourist agencies involved (insufficient reason to claim insurance for cancellation etc.)

https://hk.news.yahoo.com/旅遊警示政出多門-添港人折騰-225545888.html

[Flickserve]

I think a formal travel advisory alert comes from the WHO. Individual countries can only advise their citizens.

A red alert will not be issued by the WHO for South Korea. The number of cases is too small and can be controlled.

[dwq]

Hong Kong Government takes WHO's advisories into consideration, but it can issue its own travel alert. Indeed the Security Bureau did finally issue the Red Outbound Travel Alert for Korea a day later.

http://www.news.gov.hk/tc/categories/admin/html/2015/06/20150609_102350.shtml Chinese

http://www.news.gov.hk/en/categories/admin/html/2015/06/20150609_102350.shtml English

[skylee]

Perhaps the cancellation of large number of packaged tours to Korea would help wake up the Korean administration/ people.

[Flickserve]

I still do not think the WHO will issue a travel advisory alert. The number of cases are quite small, the mode of transmission is known, the virus is known and control is still possible.

No doubt people are concerned.

In HK, people are driven by emotion a lot of time. So there definitely will be a lot of local reaction. That's the nature of news reporting in HK.

[abcdefg]

I recently flew round trip through Kuala Lumpur, on the way to and from Yogyakarta. (Start and end of trip in Kunming.)

 

Saw lots of prominent signs about MERS and went through several screenings. My understanding is that they are concerned the situation might get worse with Ramadan coming soon. It's a big travel time in that part of Asia.

 

(Not sure whether that specific factor involves Korea -- would guess Ramadan would not have much impact on Korea's travel habits.)