Eight
new MERS cases in South Korea; 20th patient dies
Send a link to a friend
[June 17, 2015]
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on
Wednesday reported eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS),
while another person infected with the virus died, health officials
said, bringing to 20 the number of fatalities in the outbreak that began
last month.
|
A total of 162 people in South Korea have been infected in the
outbreak, the largest outside Saudi Arabia. It has been traced to a
68-year-old South Korean man who returned from a business trip to
the Middle East in early May.
South Korea's health ministry said 19 people diagnosed with the MERS
virus had recovered and been discharged from hospital since the
outbreak began.
The latest MERS patient to die in South Korea was a 54-year-old
woman who had bronchiectasis and high blood pressure. All of the
people to die in the outbreak had existing ailments or were elderly.
All of the infections known to have occurred in South Korea have
taken place in healthcare facilities. Three hospitals have been at
least partially shut and two have been locked down with patients and
medical staff inside.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jun/17/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
More than 6,500 people are in quarantine, either at home or in
health facilities.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the South Korean
outbreak "large and complex".
The eight new cases reported on Wednesday marked an uptick from the
four and five on the previous two days, but below double-digit daily
increases reported last week.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jun/17/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png)
MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that
triggered China's deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS).
The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been in Saudi
Arabia, where more than 1,000 people have been infected since 2012,
and about 454 have died.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Hooyeon Kim; Writing by Tony Munroe;
Editing by Robert Birsel)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jun/17/images/ads/current/LINCOLN_theater_011411.png) |