Police beef up flu prevention efforts at local jails

SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- The national police instructed all local stations
Tuesday to strengthen monitoring of hygiene in detention rooms following the
death of two South Koreans from the new H1N1 virus.

Health authorities confirmed 47 more cases of influenza A on Tuesday, raising
the total number of flu infections in the country to 2,212 since the disease was
first reported here in early May. The two patients died over the weekend from
complications apparently caused by the flu virus.
"We had earlier ordered all police stations to reinforce sanitary conditions at
detention rooms since the outbreak of the flu virus, but this time, we sent a
much stronger notice following the recent deaths," an official at the Seoul
Metropolitan Police Agency said.
The new guidelines require daily measurement of detainees' body temperatures, the
official said.
If an infection is detected, temperature measurements will be increased and all
detention rooms and utensils used by the patient will be sterilized and
prohibited from reuse for 48 hours, he said.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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