Leaders of the main parties agreed to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to mull possible solutions to the MERS outbreak here that has left four dead and close to 2,000 under quarantine.
Reps. Kim Moo-sung and Moon Jae-in, chairs of the governing Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, respectively, will attend. Parliamentary floor leaders of each party, Saenuri Rep. Yoo Seong-min, NPAD Rep. Lee Jong-kul, will also attend.
The meeting comes amid worsening public fears that the MERS virus could claim more lives. The number of confirmed patients has steadily risen since the first patient was confirmed late last month. Those under quarantine rose to over 1,800, the Health Ministry said earlier Friday.
Sunday’s gathering also comes amid escalating calls from the public that the government disclose more information regarding the MERS threat.
The government has refused to publicize the name of the hospitals where MERS patients have been found except for the hospital in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, where the first patient was found.
“We must cooperate to come up with a plan to counter the MERS outbreak and the public fears that continue to grow,” Moon said. “The plan must be an all-out effort, including a unified team from local governments, the central government, the legislature and education ministries.”
Moon also met Gyeonggi Province Gov. Nam Kyung-pil of the Saenuri Party earlier Friday to discuss possible plans to counter MERS. The outbreak has been worse in Gyeonggi Province, with over 1,000 under isolation there.
“The governor and I agreed that interparty efforts are necessary and that taking care of the situation must come before we start blaming officials for incompetence,” Moon said.
Kim Moo-sung, meanwhile, urged the people to be calm, saying, “Excessively dealing with MERS will be a huge loss for the country.”
While attending an event in Busan, he added, “While it is true that the (government) took poor initial response, and they must be held accountable, we must also quickly remove the fears.”
He urged the government to better publicize that MERS is less contagious than swine flu and that it has the similar level of fatality as pneumonia.
“Our economy went through an extremely difficult time after last year’s Sewol (accident). If the fears of MERS get out of hand, the impact will be worse than Sewol by tenfold,” he said referring to the ferry sinking that claimed the lives of more than 300 passengers.
By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)
