(Reuters) — Two more patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus have died, South Korea’s health ministry said on Friday (June 26) bringing the total fatalities to 31.
The ministry also reported one new case, taking the total to 181 in an outbreak that is the largest outside Saudi Arabia.
“As of now, a total of 69 patients are undergoing treatment, 81 people have been discharged from hospital and 31 people have died. And the total number of confirmed MERS cases is 181,” South Korean Director of Disease Prevention Center at Korea Center For Disease Control And Prevention, Jeong Eun-kyeong, said at a daily news briefing.
“With regards to condition of the MERS patients under treatment, 56 patients are in stable condition, whereas 13 patients are in unstable condition. There were two additional deaths yesterday. One is 78 years old, and the other is 80 years old. Both the deceased were considered as high risk-patients who had existing ailments such as cerebral infraction and cancer,” Jeong added.
Most of the deaths have been elderly patients or those who had existing illnesses, according to the health ministry.
On Wednesday (June 24), the ministry said the outbreak was at a crossroads, backing off from an earlier assessment that the spread of disease had levelled off.
The outbreak in South Korea has been traced to a 68-year-old man who returned from a trip to the Middle East in early May and sought medical help at different hospitals before being diagnosed with the MERS virus.
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.
