South Korean shopping, baseball, movies and art hit by MERS

SEOUL - South Korean high street spending fell dramatically in the first week of June as fears over an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) kept shoppers at home, but online purchases rose, government estimates showed on Wednesday.

President Park Geun-hye postponed a US visit to supervise the handling of the outbreak, as two more people died and 13 new cases were reported, lifting the total number of patients to 108.

Department store sales in the period fell 25 percent from an average of the first two weeks of May, the data showed. Sales at discount stores fell 7.2 percent, but online purchases rose 3.2 percent.

Cinema ticket sales dropped 54.9 percent in the first week of June from the year-earlier period. Visitors to amusement parks plummeted 60.4 percent and to baseball games, 38.7 percent.

Museums and art galleries suffered the same fate, with drops of 81.5 percent and 48.3 percent, respectively.

Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan asked South Koreans in a briefing on Wednesday not to be excessively worried and urged consumers to continue spending money.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Tourists fear MERS outbreak in South Korea

SEOUL - Tourists in South Korea were worried on Thursday amid a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, which has killed at least three people and infected dozens in two weeks.

In Myeong-dong, a tourist attraction in capital city Seoul, tourists wore mask while walking around the streets.

One of the tourists said she feels insecure about the situation.

"When I arrived at the Incheon International Airport, I saw people wearing mask so I think there must be some disease around here. So, I feel a bit unsecured, so I buy the mask and wear here," said 56-year-old Malaysian tourist Zakiah Hussin.

According to South Korea Tourism Organization, about 2,500 people on Monday (June 1) and about 4,500 people on Tuesday (June 2) canceled trips to the country, mostly by tourists from China and other Asian regions.

"I thought about cancel this trip before because of the MERS. News in China (you know) very scareful. But this graduation trip is meaningful as we scheduled it long times ago. So We still decided to be here anyhow," said 22-year-old Lorraine Long from China.

"It is not going to be convenient for foreigners to come here with the fact that MERS is around," 21-year-old Brazilian tourist Tais Correa added fear about trip in South Korea.

Earlier in the day, South Korea's Health Ministry confirmed five additional cases of MERS, raising the total to 35, including two more health care workers who treated infected patients.

There have been three deaths directly confirmed as a result from MERS, sharply raising public fear and confusion as authorities tried to contain the spread of the disease by tracking down people who may have had contact with patients.

All the cases have been traced to a 68-year-old man who had visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the countries with the most MERS cases.

Whilst there has been no sustained human-to-human transmission, the worst-case scenario would be for the virus to change and spread rapidly, as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) did in 2002-2003, killing about 800 people around the world.

MERS was first identified in humans in 2012 and is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered SARS. But MERS has a much higher death rate at 38 percent, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures.

The new cases would bring the total number globally to 1,179, based on World Health Organisation (WHO) data, with at least 442 related deaths.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com