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World choir contest hit by H1N1 flu

SEOUL
Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:39am EDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - Fourteen Indonesians attending a choir contest in South Korea were confirmed H1N1 patients on Saturday in the country's largest daily confirmations as organizers rushed to send more than 1,000 participants home.

On Sunday, 404 Chinese and nearly 300 Indonesians are expected to fly home after the contest in the southern city of Changwon was canceled on Saturday. Many others are planning departures on Monday.

Health authorities are running tests on 34 other Indonesians with flu symptoms, provincial and Health Ministry officials said. South Korea has had 394 confirmed cases of the flu with 80 people in quarantine.

The choir contest drew more than 1,500 people from abroad.

The H1N1 swine flu virus first emerged in Mexico in March and was spreading out of control in the United States by the time it was identified at the end of April.

The World Health Organization declared a pandemic in June. It has killed close to 500 people globally.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Sugita Katyal)


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