On Monday we learned the last half of the World Choir Championship Korea 2009 was cancelled after 14 of its participants were found with swine flu. Today it's another international event, this one in Yeosu, Jeollanam-do:
Facing an unexpectedly rapid spread of type A(H1N1) influenza, local governments have been forced to cancel several domestic and international events this week at a cost of billions of won.
The city of Yeosu in South Jeolla said yesterday it will cancel the 10th Yeosu International Youth Festival slated to begin on July 23.
The three-day event was to host 100,000 participants, including youths from around 50 countries. They were supposed to sleep in outdoor tents.
“Should any case of A(H1N1) infection occur, it will deal a blow not only to the city’s external image but also the 2012 Yeosu Expo,” said Chung In-hwa, vice mayor of the port city. The city says it has already spent several hundred million won on the event.
First-time visitors might want to browse the "Swine flu in Korea" category. The latest news is that there are 561 cases of H1N1 in South Korea, with 66 turning up yesterday, and authorities are especially concerned about the number of Koreans returning from overseas study and vacation. The government has said it will vaccinate some 13 million people starting in November to prevent an outbreak in the winter. The 561 figure comes from this Korea Herald article, though articles up on both the Herald and the Times sites say 535, with 40 more turning up on Tuesday. Both articles have the same final paragraph as well.
4 comments:
"The three-day event was to host 100,000 participants"
-- With this magnitude, i think they are doing the right thing. This can turn into an epidemiological nightmare if any of the participants is infected. Statistically, the risk is very high.
With a pandemic going on, i guess any massive gatherings worldwide, that will involve participants from all around the globe should be re scheduled at a later time. Its not worth the risk
This is the responsible thing to do when you force quarantine on visitors that only may have been exposed.
uhh, why do two competing newspapers have the same final paragraph?
2,000 spectators have been told to quarantine themselves at home.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2907495
Post a Comment