South Korea to fine or jail Mers patients who lie about how they came into contact with disease
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 27 June, 2015, 1:31am
UPDATED : Saturday, 27 June, 2015, 1:31am
Agence France-Presse in Seoul
Mers patient Kim, 44, emerges from his hospital ward in Huizhou, Guangdong province. He was discharged yesterday.Photo: SCMP Pictures
South Korea has introduced a new law designed to curb a Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) outbreak, tightening quarantine restrictions and imposing jail sentences on those who defy anti-infection measures in a crisis that has now left 31 dead.
Under the new law, passed in parliament late on Thursday, people infected with the virus who lie to state investigators about how they came into contact with the disease will face a fine or a prison sentence.
"False testimony would entail up two years in prison or 20 million won [HK$139,000] in fines," said the Health Ministry about the new law.
It replaces the maximum 2 million won fine that could be meted out to anyone who did not tell the truth under previous legislation. "Interviewees will [now] feel compelled to provide honest answers," the ministry said in a press statement.
The new law also strengthens officials' power to restrict the movement of infected people and close contaminated facilities, with offenders who refuse to follow their orders also facing two years in prison or an US$18,000 fine.
The number of state health workers in charge of preventing outbreaks and tracing them will also be doubled to more than 60.
The legislation comes as South Korea's government is facing criticism for failing to stop the Mers outbreak, now the largest outside Saudi Arabia.
The country on Thursday announced a US$14 billion stimulus package to boost the economy. The finance ministry slashed its growth forecast for this year to 3.1 per cent from an earlier projection of 3.8 per cent. The ministry said the Mers outbreak could pare up to 0.3 percentage points off annual economic growth.
Two new fatalities were reported yesterday, the health ministry said - both women, aged 79 and 80, who had existing health conditions. A doctor at Seoul's Samsung Medical Centre, the hospital to which nearly half of all infections have been traced, was also confirmed to have contracted the disease.
The latest fatalities brought the total death toll to 31, with 181 people diagnosed with the deadly virus since the first case emerged on May 20.
The South Korean man who sparked a health scare after entering China via Hong Kong in May while suffering from Mers was reportedly discharged from hospital yesterday morning.
The man, 44 - identified only by his surname, Kim and wearing a surgical mask - emerged from his ward at the hospital in Huizhou, Guangdong province, accompanied by three medics and surrounded by scores of local journalists, Southern Metropolis Daily reported. Kim had tested negative for the Mers virus in both his past two tests - the last time on Thursday.
Kim - whose treatment was reported to have cost more than 8 million yuan (HK$10 million) - had also been free of any signs of fever, a virus symptom, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said. The commission said Kim was to return to South Korea yesterday.
Additional reporting by Nectar Gan
