韩国MERS疫情造成第七人死亡

AS IT IS 2015-06-10 Seventh Person Dies of MERS in South Korea 韩国MERS疫情造成第七人死亡

The South Korean Health Ministry¹ has reported the death of a seventh person from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome², also known as MERS. Health ministry officials said Tuesday the victim is a 68-year-old woman who was at a hospital in Seoul. She reportedly had been in the same hospital emergency room where other MERS infections have taken place. The health ministry also reported eight new cases of the disease.

Jeong Eun-kyung is with South Korea’s disease control center.

She says “We confirmed that there are a total of 95 cases of MERS. But (among them), nine patients are in unstable³ condition until this morning.”

Just two weeks ago, South Korea had only four confirmed cases of the disease. VOA’s reporter in Seoul says the growing number of cases has yet to affect daily life. The city’s trains are still crowded with passengers, many of them going to or from work. Relatively⁴ few South Koreans wear face masks to protect against the virus. Those covering their faces are more likely foreigners. Fear of MERS has led to a drop in the number of foreign tourists.

More than 2,500 people have been placed under quarantine for suspected contact with MERS patients. They are being forced to live apart from others, and their movement has been restricted. Health officials say they are watching the cell phone signals of the quarantined individuals to make sure they honor the restrictions⁵.                    

South Korea also has closed nearly 2,000 schools in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. All the infections have taken place in hospitals or medical centers.

On Sunday, the government changed its policy and announced the names of the 24 health care centers where MERS patients have been identified or treated. The publication of the names follows the discovery that one center had an unusually high number of MERS cases.            

Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said Sunday that because all the MERS cases have been linked to hospitals, “we think we have a chance at putting the outbreak under total control.”

Other countries in Asia have warned their citizens against traveling to South Korea. Japan announced on Tuesday that it has set up special task forces to help its citizens there deal with the spread of the virus. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida spoke⁶ about the groups.

He said, “By setting up the local task forces, we are giving out utmost effort in gathering⁷ and providing information for the safety of Japanese nationals overseas.”                                     

MERS is related to a virus that infected thousands of people with SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, in 2003. It has no cure or vaccine⁸ to prevent its spread. MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The disease has since spread to several other countries.

Words in This Story

respiratory – adj. related to the act of breathing

mask(s) – n. a covering worn on the face

tourist(s) – n. traveler; someone who travels from place to place

quarantine – n. being kept away from others to prevent a disease from spreading

task – adj. related to a job or a piece of work

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

3 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

8 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。