South Korea declares red alert against swine flu

SEOUL - South Korea Tuesday raised the swine flu alert level to its highest status due to the rapid spread of the viral disease in the country, officials said.

The red alert level, the highest on South Korea’s four-level scale, means that government authorities would be mobilised to fight the virus and restrictions on travel and public events could be put in place more quickly.

The red alert was put in place primarily to control the spread of the H1N1 strain of the flu, said Park Ha Jeong, a deputy minister for public health.

The next four to five weeks could show whether South Korea hits the peak of its flu infections, he said.

The health, welfare and family affairs ministry said the numbers of H1N1 infections has risen rapidly with the onset of cold weather. An average of 8,857 new swine-flu cases per day were recorded last week, double the tally from the week before.

Since mid-August, 42 people have died in South Korea from swine-flu infections.