Off the wire
• Spanish treasury minister hints at future tax cuts  • 71 killed in airstrikes, clashes with IS militants in Iraq  • Israel bans entry of UN human rights envoy  • N China looks to wind power for winter heating  • Housing sales rise in Spain during April  • Roundup: Efforts mount to boost start-up funding in the Netherlands  • U.S. stocks open sharply lower after collapse of Greece talks  • Roundup: Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir already departed S. Africa: gov't lawyer  • Quake-hit Nepal hopes for investments from Chinese firms  • Jordan concerned over UNRWA's financial crisis  
You are here: 　 Home

Czech Republic not to take measures against MERS at present

Xinhua, June 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

After talks with Health Minister Svatopluk Nemecek, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said on Monday that Czech citizens did not face any direct infection by the MERS coronavirus and the state had so far not been planning to adopt any measures against the spreading of the virus.

Czech has a direct airline connection with Seoul in South Korea, where 16 victims died from the virus recently, but Zaoralek said he did not consider it a "risky moment" at present.

He said South Korea had been paying great attention to the situation, adding he was convinced that the local health system could handle the challenges.

But Zaoralek warned Czech people who planned to visit the region to reconsider their trip and those who were returning from regions affected by MERS to monitor their health accordingly.

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a respiratory illness caused by a new type of coronavirus, similar to the SARS virus that killed more than 770 people worldwide following a 2003 outbreak. There is no known vaccine or treatment for the MERS.

The first MERS case was spotted in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The World Health Organization has reported more than 1,000 cases of MERS globally and more than 400 deaths. Endit