South Korea Health Ministry announces new MERS death
Health officials in South Korea have reported a new death from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), while the country has reported no new infection cases for eight consecutive days.
South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare reported on Wednesday that the latest victim brings the death toll from the viral disease in the country to 34.
Of the 186 confirmed MERS cases, 119 people have been discharged following complete recovery, while 33 are still hospitalized.
The Health Ministry said most of those who have died from MERS had existing health conditions that were apparently exacerbated by the infection. The fatality rate of the disease in South Korea currently remains at 18.3 percent.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the MERS outbreak in South Korea as “large and complex.” The outbreak has been traced to a 68-year-old South Korean man, who was diagnosed with the infection after returning from a business trip to the Middle East in early May.
There were 811 people in quarantine on Wednesday morning for possible infection after coming into close contact with MERS patients. The number was up from 674 recorded the previous day.
The South Korean government is planning to inject billions of US dollars in a stimulus package as part of efforts to offset the economic impacts of the MERS outbreak. The epidemic has severely affected the country’s tourism sector and consumer spending.
MERS, a cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), causes coughing, fever, pneumonia and kidney failure but it does not appear to be as contagious as SARS, which killed some 800 people in a 2003 epidemic.
The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been reported in Saudi Arabia, where more than 950 people have been infected and 412 died from the illness.
There is no vaccine for MERS, which has an overall mortality rate of 35 percent, according to the WHO.
MP/HJL/HRB
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