Hong Kong urged its citizens not to travel to South Korea yesterday, as an eighth person died in an outbreak of a deadly and incurable viral infection.
Almost 3,000 people have been quarantined, and 2,200 schools and universities closed since a South Korean businessman who had been travelling in Saudi Arabia, had Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), also known as camel flu, diagnosed on May 20.
Eight new infections were confirmed yesterday, bringing the total number of cases to 95, the highest number ever to have occurred outside Saudi Arabia.
The “red alert”, which advises people in Hong Kong to avoid or postpone non-essential travel to South Korea, is the first such international travel warning to be issued, and comes as the Seoul government claims to be bringing the epidemic under control.
“Public concerns are rising over the negative impact of the Mers outbreak on our economy and society,” Choi Kyung Hwan, the acting prime minister, said. “So we have decided to launch an active, all-out response with the goal of ending the Mers crisis within this week.”
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Like severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which killed hundreds of people in Asia in 2003, Mers is spread by close contact with an infected person, not merely through the air. All the cases of infection in South Korea have occurred in hospitals, from contact with the 68-year old traveller from Saudi Arabia or people infected by him.
The disease was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012, and has also been found in camels and tomb bats. It is spread less easily than Sars but is more deadly, with a death rate as high as two out of five infected people.
The symptoms include fever, difficulty in breathing and failure of internal organs, including the kidneys. Most of those who have died have been elderly people with other health problems.
Nonetheless, cinemas, churches and sporting venues such as baseball stadiums have reported a drastic drop in attendance. So far, 2,892 people have been quarantined after having come into contact with infected patients.
Police have been tracking people through their mobile phone signals to make sure that they are complying with their quarantine orders. Surgical masks and hand-sanitising gel have sold out in many shops.
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The health authorities have been criticised for mishandling the outbreak. China was furious that a 44-year-old man infected with the virus was not prevented from flying to Hong Kong, one of the places worst hit by Sars — although there is no sign that he infected anyone.
At the weekend the South Korean government reversed a decision not to announce the names of hospitals where the infection had been transmitted, for fear of damaging their business.
Epidemiologists pointed out that this would result in people who might have been infected there being less likely to report suspicious symptoms.