South Korea: Mers virus outbreak is over - theguardian

With MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) spreading like wildfire during the middle of 2015 in Seoul, South Korea, citizens were sent into panic-mode while the country's economy took a significant dip. This epidemic disease killed a total of 36 citizens and hospitalized hundred others, causing thousands of schools to cease activities and slowing the pace of its usually fast-paced tourism industry in the process. Fortunately, this has since ended after no cases were reported after the one reported on 4 July 2015. 

OPINION:
It is clear that this issue has left a significant impact on many, with newspapers updating people around the world on the number of cases just about everyday during that season. Hence, without a doubt, I feel that it deserves the front cover of TIMES magazine. Reminding us that these sort of scenarios can also play out in such highly urbanised and modernised countries like South Korea, it also gives us insight of how the leaders of the country managed the situation so successfully. Not simply minimising the number of deaths, they also managed to put an end to the situation in a limited period of time. In fact, this was spearheaded by the many measures that they had put in place to prevent further spread of the disease, such as sterilising their subway trains every single day, while persuading their population to remain calm. This is a lesson that citizens and leaders all over the world can learn from South Korea: to stay calm and trust the leaders especially in a state of emergency and to do whatever it takes to put an end to dangerous situations. Therefore, with its valuable insights and lessons to the general population, this piece of news surely deserves a place on the cover of TIMES magazine, it being a magazine that reports on issues from all over the globe. 

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