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S. Korea to raise flu alert to highest level this week
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to raise its alert status for Influenza A (H1N1) to the highest level this week, mobilizing all government organizations and resources to stem the spread and casualties of the highly contagious disease, government officials said Sunday.
The government is planning to convene a national crisis assessment meeting Wednesday to discuss elevating the nation's anti-epidemic alert status to "Red," the highest in the four-stage disaster alert system which also includes Blue, Yellow and Orange, depending on its seriousness.
The planned move comes after the government heightened the alert status to the second highest, Orange, on July 21 as the cases of new flu infection involving community transmissions were increasing.
Under the Red alert status, the government will mull over a nationwide school closure, mobilization of military medical personnel and recommendation for travel restraint, among others.
"As the number of daily infections with H1N1 virus topped 10,000, the situation guarantees systemic countermeasures," the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said. "It is necessary to ratchet up the alert level."
Since the first local outbreak in May, the new flu has forced the temporary closure of local schools and delayed student and public gatherings, raising the country's death toll to 40 as of Sunday.
To stem the spread of the virus, the government plans to urge people to refrain from traveling or doing outdoor activities and to increase the supply of equipments necessary for conducting tests on patients.
It will also consider whether to temporarily close all middle and high schools and private teaching institutions until Nov. 13 when students begin to get flu vaccinations. Moving up the start of the winter vacation is one of the options, it said.
"As experts and related government agencies are divided over the school closures, more deliberation is necessary to make a final decision," a government official said.
On Tuesday, South Korea launched its first round of vaccinations under a plan to inoculate 35 percent of the country's 49 million people. The first batch of vaccinations is only for medical and quarantine staff, who are far more likely to be exposed to the virus on a daily basis and could transmit it to patients.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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