JUNE 23 (Reuters) — South Korea’s health ministry reported three new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Tuesday (June 23), taking the total to 175 in an outbreak that is still the largest outside Saudi Arabia but which is seen to have leveled off.
“As of now, the total number of confirmed MERS cases is 175. Total 94 patients are undergoing treatment, 54 people have been discharged from hospital and 27 people have died. Compared to yesterday, three additional MERS cases have been confirmed and four patients left hospital. There were no additional deaths yesterday,” South Korean Director of Disease Prevention Center at Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jeong Eun-kyeong, said at a news briefing.
South Korean health authorities said that they are set to ban people, who are in quarantine at home, from boarding domestic airlines from Tuesday.
“People, who are under quarantine, are restricted from taking domestic flights. We are taking this measure to prevent transmission of MERS in case there is a possibility that it can be spread by people who are (under quarantine and) in isolation,” said Kwon Deok-cheol, South Korean Assistant Minister of Healthcare Policy, during a briefing.
South Korean border control authorities on June 1 put a ban on overseas travel for people isolated for possible infection.
More than 2,800 people are in quarantine, either at home or in health facilities.
People under quarantine at home are advised to stay home for 14 days. Every day, health centre officials call them to make sure they don’t leave their houses.
All of the infections known to have occurred in South Korea have taken place in healthcare facilities.
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.
