South Korea replaces health minister over MERS crisis
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has dismissed her health minister, who was severely criticized for the government’s poor response to the recent outbreak of MERS in the Asian country.
Moon Hyong-pyo, who had himself proposed to resign after apologizing to the public for the anger caused by the biggest MERS outbreak outside Saudi Arabia, was replaced by Seoul National University hospital Professor Chung Chin-youb, the president’s office said in a Tuesday statement.
The reshuffle came a week after Seoul announced an effective end to the MERS outbreak, with just one patient undergoing treatment in hospital.
Although no new MERS infections have been reported since July 4, the World Health Organization (WHO) standards urge a four-week waiting period after the last MERS patient completely recovers before declaring the outbreak definitively over.
The South Korean government has come under intense public pressure for failing to promptly cope with MERS in the early stages of its outbreak in May.
The MERS outbreak hit South Korea hard in terms of psychological impacts on citizens. Some reportedly even felt reluctant to go shopping for infection fears.
The outbreak also had a disastrous effect on the economy, with a 40-percent fall in the number of foreign visitors to South Korea. At least 130,000 foreign tourists canceled their travel plan to the country in June alone over MERS fears, according to government officials.
MERS stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and is part of the coronavirus family of viruses. It can cause such symptoms as fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure. The disease has killed almost 500 people worldwide.
The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been reported in Saudi Arabia, where over 950 people have been infected and 412 died from the illness.
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