Korean Wedding Party Dons Surgical Masks for Photo During MERS Outbreak
A wedding party donned medical masks for a group picture.
— -- A Korean wedding party posed for a group photograph in surgical masks as the country battles an outbreak of MERS that has continued to to spread.
The country is battling the worst outbreak of the virus outside of Saudi Arabia, where the disease was first identified. At least 64 cases have been confirmed by the World Health Organization including five that resulted in deaths.
The country's Ministry of Health and Welfare has reported a total of 95 people infected and seven deaths, according to The Associated Press.
More than 3,000 people have been placed in isolation as a result of the outbreak, the AP reported, adding that 2,200 schools have closed in South Korea. The outbreak is believed to have started when an infected 68-year-old man sought treatment at four different health facilities in the country.
The wedding party donned masks in the picture that has spread across the Web seemingly to guard against the potential spread of MERS. However, the wedding planner, Hwang Myung-Hwan reportedly told Agence France-Presse that the masks were only worn for a single photo.
"They had already taken normal group photos without masks when they decided to do something fun," Hwang Myung-Hwan reportedly told AFP.
According to a caption of the photo posted on Myung-Hwan's Facebook page, "all day there was talk of MERS" the day before the wedding, so the wedding planner picked up 220 masks because the "bride and groom might be worried."
A photo from the following day's festivities showed the happy couple wearing the masks. Myung-Hwan described the wedding party as having "defeated MERS," noting they "happily completed" the wedding.
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