MERS;SKorea Health Minister is being replaced

SEOUL:  South Korea President Park Geum-Hye
On Thursday replaced her Health Minister,who
was widely blamed for the government 's poor
response to the outbreak of the Middle East
Respiratory SYndrom MERS that killed 36
people

Moon Hyong -Pyo who  had offered to step down
after apologising for the public anxiety caused
by the biggest MESR outbreak outside Saudi Arabia
,was replaced by Chung Chin-Youb a Seoul
National University hospital professor,the president's
office said.

The cabinet change came a week after South Korea
declared an effective end to  the MERS outbreak,with
one patient still undergoing treatment in hospital

No additional MERS infections have been reported
since July 4 but Word Health Organisation
standards call for a four week waiting period after
the last MERS patient fully recovers before
declaring the outbreak definitively over,

Thousand  of schools  were closed at the peak
of the outbreak as anxious parents kept their
children home
The government introduced sweeping quarantine
measure and confined nearly 17,000 people
to their home to restrict the spread of the virus
to medical facilities .

The outbreak took a heavy toll on the national
economy ,stiffing consumer spending and
devastating the tourist sector.

Local business including shopping malls
restaurants and cinemas reported a sharp
drop in sales as people shunned public
venues with large crowds.

The government has announced a 22 trilllion
won $19.8 billion) stimulus packing
businesses hurt by the MERS crisis .