Five more H1N1 deaths in South Korea

Posted on : 2009-10-27 12:27 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
This week’s deaths brings the total to 21 people who have died in S. Korea from complications due to the H1N1 as the rate of new cases rises consistent with global patterns
 Oct. 26.
Oct. 26.

Five people infected with the new influenza A virus subtype (H1N1), including an elementary school student, died on Tuesday.

H1N1 has been spreading rapidly through schools, including public institutions, in South Korea. New cases past week have been reported at a rate 1.5 times higher than that of the previous week.

An official from the Central Swine Influenza Crisis Center (CSICC) in the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said that a 14-year-old middle school student living in the Seoul metropolitan area died earlier that day from pneumonia that he contracted while in a weakened state from the H1N1. The student had been classified as high-risk due to his asthma. A total 21 people, including 18 people classified as high-risk, have died from complications due to the H1N1 to date.

The CSICC official also said that two elderly women living in Gyeongsang Province, ages 73 and 78 respectively, and a 9-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and an 11-year-old girl both living in Daejeon City died after being infected with the H1N1 on the same day.

According to an assessment by the CSICC, 878 cases of H1N1 were reported over the past week (from Oct. 19 to Oct. 24), 1.5 times the 384 total number of cases reported the previous week. Schools originated 870 out of 878 of the reported cases, and of which, 356 were from elementary schools.

Choi Hee-ju, the head of CSICC said, “There has been a clear increase in the spread of H1N1.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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