hankyoreh

at the headquarters of Samsung Electronics in Seoul’s Seocho district

The partial closure of Samsung Medical Center is scheduled to end on July 20 if no additional cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) are diagnosed.

The hospital is currently the only remaining medical center to remain partially closed among the 15 designated for targeted management of the virus.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s MERS headquarters made the announcement at the hospital on the morning of July 17 with representatives of various agencies in attendance, including the immediate response team, special quarantine team, and Seoul Metropolitan Government.

“In view of the fact that no additional confirmed diagnoses have been made since 15 Samsung Medical Center patients were transferred to other hospitals on July 3 and 5 and the medical personnel who had been isolated after contact with confirmed patients had all returned to work as of midnight on July 20 after their incubation period had elapsed, we have made the decision to end to partial closure,” the ministry said.

Samsung Medical Center announced the partial closure on the evening of June 13, suspending new outpatient and emergency treatment at the request of the joint MERS task force’s immediate response team. Ninety MERS cases, or nearly half the 186 confirmed to date, had come from the hospital.

The MERS headquarters also announced that no new cases had been confirmed in the 13 days since July 5. The administration is currently in discussions with the World Health Organization on the standards for determining and announcing the outbreak’s end, with plans to make the announcement later after a government crisis assessment meeting.

By Park Su-ji, staff reporter

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