The Foreign Ministry has warned Thais residing in or visiting South Korea to avoid the Daejeon area where an outbreak of the deadly Mers virus is reported.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said at this time the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) was still limited to people close to the first group of patients and South Korea’s Public Health Ministry was already monitoring them.
According to a report by AFP, dozens of public events have been cancelled, while more than 1,360 people who were exposed directly or indirectly to the virus have been placed under varying levels of quarantine. and monitoring. Over 200 primary schools have been temporarily closed.
The Thai embassy in Seoul has issued a warning to the roughly 50,000 Thais living in South Korea, and to Thai tourists, to avoid Daejeon, located 167 kilometres from Seoul.
Mr Sek said the ministry has no plan to issue any further warnings at this stage. The infection had not spread to Seoul, but Thais in South Korea should closely follow news reports on the matter.
Mers, which has no known cure or vaccine, is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), which killed hundreds of people when it appeared in Asia in 2003.
Mers is confirmed to have infected 1,161 people globally, with 436 deaths. More than 20 countries have been affected, with most cases in Saudi Arabia.