SEOUL, Jan 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – South Korea on Friday confirmed its second
case of the SARS-like virus that has killed at least 25 in China, as concerns
mount about a wider outbreak.
Several nations including the US have stepped up checks on airport
passengers to detect the coronavirus, which first emerged in the central
Chinese city of Wuhan.
The virus has caused alarm in China and abroad because of its genetic
similarities to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly
650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.
On Friday, Seoul’s health ministry said a South Korean man in his 50s
started experiencing symptoms while working in Wuhan on Jan 10.
He was tested upon returning to the country earlier this week, and was
confirmed to be South Korea’s second case of the virus on Thursday, the
ministry added. “The patient was adequately aware of the situation in
Wuhan… and cooperated well with the health authorities’ requests during the
monitoring period after returning home,” the ministry said in a statement.
The outbreak has prompted Beijing to effectively quarantine some 20 million
people, but the World Health Organization said Thursday that the disease did
not yet constitute a global health emergency.