REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- The management of Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport is making optimum use of a body temperature detector to prevent the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) from spreading.

"We make the best use of the detector as many airlines fly directly to Bali from a few countries plagued by the disease," General Manager of Angkasa Pura of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Trikora Harjo said here on Thursday.

He added that the detector was operated by health officers of the airport at the international arrivals terminal.

According to Harjo, the detector is activated when there is a new airline arriving from any of the countries where cases of MERS-CoV were reported, such as South Korea and several Middle Eastern countries, among others.

"The detector is activated when there are airlines arriving from South Korea and Arab countries," Harjo affirmed, adding that so far, no passengers arrived at the airport infected with the virus.

MERS-CoV was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has now infected a number of patients in South Korea.

It is a disease caused by a coronavirus that attacks the respiratory tract. Its symptoms include fever, acute cough, and shortness of breath.

According to the Central Statistical Agency of Bali, 62,817 tourists visited the province from South Korea in the January to May period this year. It constitutes the fifth-highest number of tourist arrivals to Bali.

The number jumped nearly 12 percent as compared to that in the same period last year, when it was recorded at 56,120.

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