Company presidents at Samsung Group, South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, offered an apology Wednesday after a group hospital was blamed as a major source of infections with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
South Korea reported 162 infections and 20 MERS-related deaths as of Wednesday morning with an additional 6,500 in isolation for possible infection of the potentially fatal disease.
Samsung Medical Hospital in southern Seoul has voluntarily shut down most of its operations after nearly half of all transmissions occurred at the hospital.
“Many of the participants said they are repentant and deeply sorry for the Korean people,” a group official said, adding the group presidents discussed ways to support the swift resolution of the outbreak.
They also stressed the need to reform the crisis management system at Samsung Medical Center, one of South Korea’s largest general hospitals.
The apology comes after the hospital issued another apology on Friday, saying that it is “sorry for not being able to prevent the massive infections” and vowed to establish a close cooperation system with the government. (Yonhap)
