Influenza Outbreak

[Anchor Lead]

The spread of the influenza virus this season is unprecedented, creating serious concerns throughout the country. Let's find out more about the nationwide outbreak of the flu.

[Pkg]

In this middle school in Gangwon-do Province, 20 students were infected with influenza and ordered not to attend class over the past two weeks. The spread of influenza has prompted an early start to the winter vacation break, which was initially scheduled to begin on Friday.

[Soundbite] Middle School Student(Voice modified) : "Five of my classmates have come down with the flu.This is why the school has moved up the winter vacation for other students."

With the unusual flu pandemic before the winter break, the number of suspected cases of the flu among elementary, middle and high school students has jumped nearly four-fold in a week to 152 for every 1,000 outpatients. This is a record high since an influenza monitoring system was introduced in 1997.

[Soundbite] Jung Ki-suck(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) : "Flu alerts were issued during winter vacation in the last six years. But for the first time in six years, a flu outbreak has begun during the school term."

The Education Ministry will allow school principals to decide on whether to start winter vacations early. Health authorities have also decided to expand health insurance coverage of flu medicines, which is given to high-risk groups like children and the elderly, to include adolescents aged 18 or younger. The expansion will allow young people to pay only 30 percent of the prices for three anti-viral medicines including Tamiflu, until the flu outbreak is declared to be over.