During the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) of the Republic of Korea provided outbreak information targeting international visitors and foreign residents through multiple channels. The MOHW created a MERS portal website in Korean and English on 10 June 2015; in addition, the existing MOHW website provided English-language press releases beginning 28 May. A toll-free telephone hotline also started service in English on 12 June; it expanded to include 18 other foreign languages on 15 June. This report describes the usage of these multi-language communication channels during this MERS outbreak.

The 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak in the Republic of Korea, which started with an imported case and spread throughout the country with a total of 186 cases, revealed the vulnerabilities of the health-care system of the country. The situation was compounded by the unique health-care settings in the Republic of Korea, including crowded emergency departments and large numbers of hospital visitors seeking care at multiple hospitals. To assist with the outbreak response, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea hosted several international joint missions that provided valuable information and recommendations for MERS control and prevention of future outbreaks. This report briefly summarizes the missions’ outcomes and discusses their positive impacts.

The general elections for the 21st National Assembly in the Republic of Korea were scheduled for April 15th, 2020, which was during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. To ensure a safe election, the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) recommended several public health measures. The KCDC developed key interventions after reviewing the general election strategy that targeted COVID-19 patients and individuals isolating at home. Four voters who participated in the election tested positive, but did not contract COVID-19 during voting. The results demonstrated that the KCDC minimized the spread of infection in the community during the election. The measures implemented by KCDC during the election held under a COVID-19 outbreak cannot be generalized to elections as a whole because cultural and national consciousness vary between countries. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that the systemic strategies and applications against the pandemic can minimize the possibility of viral spread.

Purpose: We investigated the the effect of wearing a loose mask on tear-film break-up time using cross-sectional and experimental methods. Methods: This was a comparative analysis of non-invasive tear-film break-up time (NIBUT) after wearing no mask, loose mask, and tight mask for 10 minutes each in 60 eyes with or without dry eye syndrome. NIBUT measurements were performed using a keratograph. Results: The NIBUT values were 7.53 ± 0.83 seconds, 6.19 ± 0.78 seconds, and 7.36 ± 0.68 seconds for the no mask, loose mask, and tight mask groups, respectively. There was no significant difference between the no mask and tight mask groups (ρ-value = 0.517), but the loose mask group had a significantly reduced NIBUT compared with the other groups (ρ-value = 0.013 and 0.022, respectively). Conclusions Wearing a loose mask reduced the tear-film break-up time regardless of the presence or absence of dry eyes and may cause or worsen dry eye symptoms.