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WHO criticizes S. Korea’s handling of MERS virus, warns other countries

June 17, 2015

A worker wearing protective gears sprays antiseptic solution as a precaution against the spread of MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, virus at an art hall in Seoul, South Korea. The outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome has caused panic in South Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The World Health Organization (WHO) made an example of South Korea’s handling of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak while warning to other countries.

Reasons for the difficulty of containing the virus were attributed to “lack of awareness among health care workers and the general public about MERS,” and “suboptimal infection prevention and control measures in hospitals,” according to a WHO public statement released on Wednesday.

The public health arm of the United Nations cited the ongoing issue as a “wake-up call” to other countries in the event of a contagious viral outbreak.

So far the virus has spread to China and even Germany where one MERS-related death was reported after a traveler had visited Abu Dhabi. Both countries seem to have contained the virus at the moment.

The criticisms were based off of a separate WHO report that found the majority of new infections were happening within South Korean hospitals.

WHO did recognize that South Korea had “strongly initiated actions to bring this outbreak under control,” and had put a lot of resources into trying to contain the virus, just not necessarily in the right ways.