Mayor Park Won-soon: "Excessive Response Needed Over Delayed Action... Emergency Measures Comparable to MERS Crisis"

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon (right) presiding over an emergency countermeasure meeting / Provided by Seoul City

[Asia Economy Reporter Osangdo] Park Won-soon, Mayor of Seoul, stated regarding the novel coronavirus infection called 'Wuhan pneumonia' that "overreaction is better than delayed response," and announced that he would take emergency measures comparable to those during the MERS outbreak.

On the 26th, Park made these remarks during opening comments at an emergency countermeasure meeting held at Seoul City Hall, convened with city officials and related agencies.

He pointed out that the third confirmed case was identified domestically that day, saying, "Although there is only one confirmed case in Seoul (so far), considering the seriousness, much more proactive measures must be taken," and emphasized, "We need to find specific methods such as expanding the installation of thermal imaging cameras in public places." This was a measure taken by Seoul during the MERS crisis.

As of that day, there were three confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection in South Korea, with the second confirmed case being a male resident of Seoul.

Mayor Park also ordered that since Seoul, as a local government, is controlling the situation on the ground, it should provide specific and precise ideas to the central government to ensure a strict response posture is established.

He also mentioned that at the countermeasure meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on the 24th, Seoul requested three points for improvement: ▲ expanding the definition of respiratory symptom cases of Wuhan pneumonia to include sore throat, cough, and sputum in addition to cough and fever ▲ expanding the quarantine area to include Hubei Province ▲ implementing self-quarantine measures for contacts.

Mayor Park further expressed the opinion that the situation in China appears to be more serious than expected and that it is necessary to observe the situation in China accurately.

Seoul City formed a quarantine countermeasure team on the 20th and has maintained a 24-hour response system to prevent the novel coronavirus infection.