By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea was still counting the cost of its MERS outbreak Wednesday, as two more deaths and an updated total of 108 cases forced President Park Geun-hye to cancel her plan to visit the United States this weekend.
MERS - an often fatal respiratory illness originating in Saudi Arabia - has now claimed nine South Korean lives since the country’s first ever infection was confirmed May 20, in a man who had returned from the Middle East.
According to a health ministry announcement, 10 of 13 new cases involved transmissions at Seoul’s prestigious Samsung Medical Center, which is among around 30 local hospitals linked to the outbreak.
The number of people being kept isolated to prevent more infections also jumped again, reaching nearly 3,500.
Acting Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan once more addressed the media in an effort to encourage public calm, a role he has assumed while waiting for his full-time successor to be confirmed by the National Assembly.
“MERS is currently being transmitted only through hospitals, and so preventing infections at hospitals is an important key to stopping the spread of the disease,” Choi told reporters.
The acting PM, who also serves as finance minister, added that people should not change their spending habits based on “groundless fears” - concerns have been mounting that the economy is being hit hard as a result of panic among both locals and tourists.
As just four of the 108 MERS patients confirmed so far have made full recoveries, a joint team of officials from South Korea and the World Health Organization is set to unveil the outcome of an investigation this Saturday.
President Park had been set to visit the U.S. from June 14-19 - instead her press secretary told a briefing Wednesday that the trip has been postponed until the earliest mutually convenient time because “the people’s safety is the top priority.”
While talks with U.S. President Barack Obama were expected to cover vital regional security issues, Park’s approval rating at home recently took a tumble by six percentage points.
A Gallup Korea poll of 1,005 adults between Tuesday and Thursday of last week rated confidence in the president at 34 percent.
Park herself had described South Korea’s initial MERS response as “insufficient.”
The president also attracted criticism earlier this year when she embarked on an overseas trip on the first anniversary of the country’s Sewol ferry disaster.
