UpdateRisk of Mers cases in China has ‘increased significantly’, says government
Health authorities, hospitals told to prepare for potential cases of Mers as Beijing tries to confirm accuracy of South Korean media report saying a Chinese national in South Korea has illness
China’s main health authority said on Wednesday that the risk of cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or Mers, spreading to the country has increased significantly and urged people travelling to South Korea or the Middle East to be vigilant of the potential health risks.
Mao Qunan, a spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, told a news briefing in Beijing that the government’s prevention and control measures were focused on preventing cases of Mers entering China.
“Because our country has relatively frequent contact with people from South Korea and the Middle East, and especially now that South Korea has an outbreak, our experts have assessed that the risk of importing cases has increased significantly,” he said.
However, Mao sidestepped the issue of whether Beijing would follow the decision by Taipei, Hong Kong and Macau to issue travel warnings regarding South Korea, where 108 Mers cases have been reported and nine people have died..
“The current advice from the World Health Organisation is not to impose travel and trade restrictions on the affected region,” Mao told reporters. “Whether we are going to issue any ban or warning over travelling, it’s something we need to discuss with members of our tourism department.”
He also called on the public to cooperate with medical observation measures, and said the Chinese government had been working closely with the South Korean government through diplomatic channels to find out the accuracy of a South Korean media report that claimed a Chinese national in South Korea had become infected with Mers.