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May 28, 2009
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| Health authorities yesterday confirmed two more persons who contracted A(H1N1) influenza, pushing the number of total domestic cases to 29. Following the recent series of flu infection among foreigners and Korean students from abroad, the Health Ministry decided yesterday to step up its quarantine system to its second stage. Of the two patients newly discovered, one is a 30-year-old South African woman from a group of 65 foreigners recruited as English teachers by Chungdahm Learning, a Seoul-based private language franchise operator, and the other is a 22-year-old Korean woman from Texas, who returned to Korea on May 20. The ministry said she started showing flu symptoms on May 23 and she reported to a local public health care center on May 23. She is the second patient to voluntarily report to the center after suspecting she had contracted the disease, according to the ministry. The ministry is taking “preemptive measures” before a flurry of Koreans studying abroad return home to spend summer vacation here, said Chung Eun-gyung, an official in the disease policy department at the Health Ministry, in a press briefing. She said the measures can be considered “an upgrade from existing ones.” Measures will focus on explaining what Korean students who have been abroad - particularly those who were studying in the United States and Canada - should look for upon returning home, particularly if they become sick. She stressed that a person who either doesn’t submit quarantine forms or makes false statements will be subject to a maximum one year in prison or a fine of up to 5 million won ($3,939). The ministry will run advertisements in three Korean newspapers and commercials on one radio station for Koreans in the United States during June 1?15 to encourage them to make voluntary reports to health authorities here within seven days after returning. Four radio stations in Korea already started running similar commercials yesterday and Web portal sites will carry banners on the cautions beginning June 1. Meanwhile, 20 members of an English teachers’ group have been confirmed as flu victims since the first outbreak was discovered last Friday. The teachers entered Korea on May 16 and were in a training session at a building in southern Seoul and staying in the same residence. Some of them visited different branches of two franchises run by Chungdahm on May 22. The areas they visited include Goyang and Bucheon in Gyeonggi, Suseong District in Daegu, Dobong, Seongbuk and Mapo districts in Seoul, the ministry revealed yesterday. The branches total 121 and enrollment exceeds 20,000. To prevent further spread of the illness, the company will temporarily shut its branches until June 2. By Seo Ji-eun [spring@joongang.co.kr] |
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