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 South Korea has isolated more than 700 people for possible MERS
infection, which is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as
the one that triggered the deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). MERS has a much higher death rate than
SARS and there is no cure or vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) puts the total number of cases
globally at 1,161, with at least 436 related deaths. It said no
mutation had been detected in the virus in South Korea, and it did
not appear to be spreading easily.
A 57-year-old woman, who had contact with South Korea's first
patient, died of acute respiratory failure on Monday, the Health
Ministry said. She died at a hospital in Gyeonggi, the country's
most populous province which surrounds the capital Seoul.
A 71-year-old man who had been on respiratory support with a history
of kidney ailments also died. Officials did not disclose his
location.
South Korea's health ministry reported seven new cases on Tuesday,
including the woman who died, bringing the total number of cases to
25. South Korea now has the third highest number of cases after
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the European
Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
 Officials have come under criticism from many in South Korea for not
naming the hospitals where people have been treated, which has
fueled widespread speculation.
"We're finding it difficult to obtain suitable and sufficient
information from South Korean authorities, for example, finding out
which medical institutions are involved," said Ko Wing-man, Hong
Kong's Secretary for Food and Health.
China last week reported its first MERS case, that of a South Korean
man who tested positive after breaking a voluntary house quarantine
and traveling to Hong Kong and on to mainland China.
South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said the
government's credibility was at stake after criticism against
authorities for failing to contain the virus after the first
patient's symptoms were initially overlooked.
"We will bring together all our health-related capabilities now and
work to dissolve anxiety and concerns quickly," he said.
The death rate from MERS, first identified in humans in 2012, has
been 38 percent, according to WHO figures, with older patients and
those with existing respiratory and renal ailments at greater risk,
according to a South Korean doctor. However, experts said that
figure may overstate the fatality rate as patients with little or no
symptoms might go undetected.
By comparison, the death rate from SARS was 9 to 12 percent, rising
above 50 percent for patients over 65, according to the U.S.
National Library of Medicine.
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"What is important is that we do not have a change in pattern. We
also have seen in the Middle East a few individuals who transmitted
(the virus) further on," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told
Reuters in Geneva.
PUBLIC ALARM GROWS
The WHO has so far not recommended trade or travel restrictions for
South Korea.
But South Korean border control authorities have put a ban on
overseas travel for people isolated for possible infection, a health
ministry official said.
South Korea's Hyundai Motor said it had asked employees to avoid
traveling to the Middle East, while Samsung Electronics said it was
screening employees twice a day in South Korea for fever, and would
refrain from large-scale events.
Fifty-eight schools and kindergartens in Gyeonggi province, home to
the hospital where the first death occurred, were shut for the week,
according to a provincial official.
"So far it’s been inside hospitals that infections occurred but as
soon as it gets out, it’ll probably spread rapidly," said Lee
Yu-jeong, a 41-year-old mother of three children.
"As a parent, it is worrying ... the mood among mothers is that even
if you’re a little sick, you try to avoid hospitals."
Some tour agencies have started seeing overseas groups cancelling
trips to South Korea, with about 2,500 cancellations by Monday,
according to the Korea Tourism Organization.
Shares in Hanatour Services Inc and Modetour Network Inc, South
Korea's two biggest travel agencies, closed down 8.87 percent and
8.51 percent, respectively.
(Additional reporting by Joyce Lee, Meeyoung Cho, Se Young Lee,
Hyunjoo Jin, Sohee Kim and James Pearson in SEOUL, James Pomfret in
HONG KONG and Stephanie Nebehay in GENEVA; Editing by Tony Munroe
and Jeremy Laurence)
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