MERS Infections in S.Korea Up to 162 with 8 New Cases

Seoul (PNA/Xinhua) — Cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) increased to 162 in South Korea Wednesday with eight new cases reported, the health ministry said.

Among the new cases were five people who contracted the MERS coronavirus (MERSCoV) at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, where the patient 14, called super spreader, has infected nearly 80 people, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

A 33-year-old doctor of Samsung hospital was included in the list of new infectees. The doctor is now under investigation as the health authorities hasn’t figured out where and from whom the man was infected.

If the doctor treated patients and had contact with many others, he could become another source of contagion.

The remaining three cases was infected at the Hallym University Medical Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, the Gangdong Kyunghee University Medical Center in Seoul and a small clinic in Pyeongtaek, about 60 km south of Seoul.

The new case from the Kyunghee hospital was a 31-year-old doctor who treated patients at the emergency room on June 5 when the patient 76 sought consultation at the hospital. Doctor infectees totaled five as of Wednesday.

No death was reported, leaving the death toll at 19. Among 124 infectees were under treatment, 18 people have been in unstable conditions.

Two patients were discharged from hospitals as they completely recovered after being infected. It raised the total number of hospital discharge to 19.

The number of people quarantined was 6,508 on Wednesday, up 922 from the previous day. People ordered to stay at home grew 672, with those isolated at the government-designated hospitals went up to 250. (PNA/Xinhua) FFC/PJN