HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-NEWSER South Korea reports 8 more MERS cases, seventh death in outbreak

Record ID: 150597

  • Title: HEALTH-MERS/SOUTH KOREA-NEWSER South Korea reports 8 more MERS cases, seventh death in outbreak
  • Date: 9th June 2015
  • Summary: SEJONG, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 9, 2015) (REUTERS) SOUTH KOREAN ASSISTANT MINISTER OF HEALTHCARE POLICY, KWON DEOK-CHEOL, WAKING TOWARD PODIUM KWON STANDING AT PODIUM JOURNALISTS TYPING KWON SPEAKING AT PODIUM SOUTH KOREAN DIRECTOR OF DISEASE PREVENTION CENTER AT KOREA CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, JEONG EUN-KYEONG, WALKING TO PODIUM AND STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA663738CN2NPBT3TC9NH7NH02X
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Korea's health ministry said on Tuesday (June 9) there were eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), bringing the total of patients to 95.
    The number of new Korean cases reported was a sharp drop from 23 on Monday but the number of schools closed grew to 2,199, including 19 universities.
    The ministry also said a patient infected with the MERS virus had died, becoming the seventh fatality in an outbreak that began in May.
    The seventh reported MERS death was a 68-year-old woman who had an existing heart ailment and had been in the emergency room of a Seoul hospital, where a number of previous confirmed cases had been traced.
    "There are eight additional cases yesterday. Seven people had died and two patients left the hospital. So, we confirmed that there are a of total 95 cases of MERS. But (among them), nine patients are in unstable condition until this morning," Jeong Eun-kyung, a South Korean disease control center official, said at a regular news briefing.
    The health ministry said the MERS virus outbreak in the country will keep fatality rate of under 10 percent, which is 7.3 percent on Tuesday.
    South Korea has the second highest number of infections after Saudi Arabia, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
    All 95 cases of infection took place in health care facilities, according to the ministry.
    Some 2,892 people who may have had contact with MERS patients have been put under quarantine, some in hospitals but most at home. Authorities have said they are using mobile phones to track people who violate quarantine.
    South Korea's new cases bring the total of MERS cases globally to 1,244, based on World Health Organization (WHO) data, with at least 446 related deaths.
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