We start with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome， or MERS， outbreak in Korea，...
For the details， let′s go straight to Kim Ji－yeon， who joins us at the news
center.
Ji－yeon， what′s the latest？
Just a few hours ago， the director general of the World Heath Organisation， Margaret
Chan， held a news conference in Seoul...
at the start of her three－day visit to the country.
During the event， she gave her assessment of the MERS situation in Korea.
Take a look.
″Our current assessment of the MERS situation in this country is that government is now
on a very good footing， the response of the health authority has been exemplary ...
Well you may say that at the beginning it was a slow start but that slow start was followed
by world－class epidemiological detective work.
The country′s highly developed IT capabilities allowed real－time tracking of spread and
reporting of findings ...The response in this country has been strengthened very quickly，
systematically and very significantly.
And I can say very few other countries in the world can do this.″
She said ″the response has been exemplary″ I don′t think it can get any better than
that.
When will we be able to declare Korea MERS－free？
Local experts say it normally takes 28 days with no new cases after the last patient，...
which is the same standard used by the WHO in the case of Ebola.
What′s disturbing is the rising number of MERS cases among medical workers.
At least two medical workers from Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul have tested
positive for MERS.
And it′s disturbing because not only are they exposed to the deadly virus but they
could be the ones spreading it because they see so many patients.
The health ministry say the two medical workers contracted the virus due to a lack of adequate
protective equipment.
Health authorities currently advise medical workers who are treating MERS patients to
wear Level－D protective clothing which requires coveralls and chemical－resistant boots.
While gloves， safety glasses， escape masks and face shields are optional.
You can see the comparison there with Level－C protective clothing，... which the government
provided for medical workers to fight Ebola in Africa.
We′ve since learned that the medical workers at Samsung Medical Center were given Level－D
protective equipment on Wednesday... a couple of weeks after the first outbreak.
The ministry′s MERS headquarters says that， going forward， it will require all medical
workers at the hospital to be tested to prevent new infections.
We all have to be vigilant in this trying time... particularly those that are showing
symptoms of the MERS virus.
What should they be doing？
They should all be following protocol to help contain the virus， and they should understand
that their actions can really have serious consequences at this critical stage in the
outbreak.
Case in point...
Patient 141 is believed to have contracted the virus after taking his father to Samsung
Medical