Shortstories
SOUTH KOREA CONFIRMS 10 MERS CASES
South Korea confirmed three more MERS cases Friday, bringing the total number of patients infected with the potentially deadly virus to 10, including a man who defied a quarantine protocol and travelled to China, health officials said. The infections were all traced to the original case of a 68-year-old man diagnosed on May 20 after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus that appeared in Asia in 2003 and killed hundreds of people. On Friday, China also reported a MERS case — a man who had flown in from South Korea.
Southeast Asian (SE) nations agreed on Friday to intensify search and rescue efforts to help vulnerable “boat people” stranded in the region’s seas, as Myanmar said its navy had seized a vessel off its coast with more than 700 migrants aboard.
More than 4,000 migrants have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh since Thailand launched a crackdown on peoplesmuggling gangs this month. Around 2,000 may still be adrift in boats on the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, the United Nations said.
Countries affected by the crisis agreed at a meeting in Bangkok to set up an anti-trafficking task force and approved a wide-ranging list of recommendations to tackle the “root causes” of the crisis - although the plan was carefully worded to avoid upsetting Myanmar, which denies it is the source of the problem.
Just as the meeting was wrapping up in Bangkok, Myanmar’s Ministry of I n fo r m at i o n announced its navy had inter- cepted a boat with 727 “Bengalis” aboard and was taking them to a base on an island off its southern coast to determine their identity.
“That the summit took place at all with this wide participation is itself a good result,” William Lacy Swing, director general of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said. “It’s a very important first step. Having Myanmar there was key. I’m pretty optimistic. We’re pleased that they’ve retained an emphasis on intensifying search operations.”
While some of the migrants are Bangladeshis escaping poverty at home, many are members of Myanmar’s 1.1 million Rohingya Muslim minority who live in apartheid-like conditions in the country’s Rakhine state.
The Bangkok g athering brought together 17 countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and elsewhere in Asia, along with the US, Switzerland and international bodies.
One delegate said Myanmar had pushed for other participants not to use the term “Rohingya” and that most were respecting Myanmar’s request. migrants have landed in across SE Asian coasts since a crackdown on trafficking was launched this month WHAT ARE THE ROOT CAUSES? While some of the migrants are Bangladeshis escaping poverty, many are members of Myanmar’s 1.1 million Rohingya Muslim minority who live in apartheid-like conditions. Myanmar does not consider them citizens and denies it discriminates against them. It calls them as Bengalis, indicating they are from Bangladesh. may still be adrift in boats in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal countries participated in the crisis talks in Bangkok