 Health agency officials test residents of a building in southern Seoul where English teachers diagnosed with H1N1 influenza A live, Monday. The confirmed patients have now been hospitalized. / Yonhap |
18 New H1N1 Cases Reported Over Weekend
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Eighteen new cases of H1N1 Influenza A were reported here over the weekend, triggering concerns that the battle against the disease may take longer than previously expected.
The government is on alert with the possibility of more ``person-to-person transmissions'' nationwide as the patients were reported to have been in contact with many local residents before being diagnosed and hospitalized.
There are now a total of 22 cases here and authorities are considering banning mass meetings at relevant places in accordance with the Infectious Diseases Prevention Act.
According to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, among the 18, 15 were English-language instructors ㅡ 13 American nationals, one Canadian and one Korean ㅡ teaching at a private educational institute in southern Seoul.
They either shared accommodation or had been to the same teacher training session, and health authorities assume that was the way the virus spread.
The first to be diagnosed was a 23-year-old instructor who was first infected with the disease during her trip to the U.S. on May 16.
Concerns are mounting as those who were later diagnosed had been going about their daily lives and mixing with the general public before being confirmed with the disease. Some have even been out of the city, and the officials are now concerned that the disease could have spread nationwide.
According to the institute, the instructors had not been teaching and there is no chance that any students have contracted the virus.
Another three patients are all children from the same family who flew in from New York. The quarantine officials tested flight attendants and other passengers who were on the same flight.
The government is expected to focus on treatment rather than prevention through quarantine. It was assumed the disease had been contained in Korea, as no cases had been reported for more than 20 days, except for a Vietnamese woman who was found to have the disease after she landed in Korea on a stopover.
Previously, Health Minister Jeon Jae-hee said her ministry will do all it can to strengthen inspections at airports since the disease is known to be carried in from overseas.
But she also admitted that the system may not be perfect because those within the incubation period of nine days may not be detected since they may have no high fever. ``All we can do at this point is to encourage people to make early reports and take medication and appropriate measures as swiftly as possible,'' she said.
The KCDC head Lee Jong-koo also cited the mass reported cases in Japan and said the ``battle with the disease'' will take longer than expected and that the most important thing will be to take swift measures once a person is suspected or confirmed to have influenza.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
