Yangon airport screens travelers as ministry reacts to MERS threat

Travelers from South Korea are undergoing screenings for MERS at Yangon airport while hospitals in the city have been briefed on the disease, according to local media.

Eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, have been identified in South Korea in recent days, bringing the total to 95, with seven deaths.

Schools and universities in the country have been closed in an attempt to halt transmission of the disease, which first appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

Dr Soe Lwin Nyein, the commanding officer at the Public Health Department at Myanmar’s Ministry of Health was quoted in 7Days Daily as saying: “Foreigners are being checked at the airport systematically, especially those who come from South Korea.”

Another source from the ministry, who was not named, said the government was also preparing hospitals and training staff to keep alert to the disease.

The source did not elaborate on what those measures were.

Photo/ Wikicommons/ NIAID: Transmission electron micrograph of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome CoV particles found near the periphery of an infected MRC-5 cell.

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