Additional MERS case reported

By Chung Hyun-chae

Health authorities on Sunday reported an additional case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), raising the total number of people infected with the virus to 186.

The latest patient is the 50-year-old wife of the nation’s 132nd patient who recovered after weeks of treatment.

It is the first case involving non-medical staff in 10 days, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Her husband contracted the disease while staying in the emergency room of Samsung Medical Center (SMC) from May 27 to 29 and was treated at a medical center in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, and in Seoul National University Hospital in southern Seoul.

The wife was quarantined at home until June 26 because her husband was diagnosed with the disease on June 12.

Three days after a quarantine measure was lifted, she visited SMC for her underlying disease, during which she is believed to have contracted the disease.

The ministry is examining how exactly the new patient was infected.

If she is found to have contracted MERS at SMC, the number of people infected with the virus at SMC will rise to 91.

Of the total 25 medical staffers infected with MERS, 13 have contracted the virus at SMC so far.

Meanwhile, the death toll from MERS remains at 33.

With five MERS patients newly discharged from quarantine facilities on the same day, the total number to recover fully increased to 116, amounting to 62.4 percent of patients.

The number of people who are still being treated stood at 37, 12 of whom are in an unstable condition.

The number of those isolated at government-designated facilities or their homes tallied 982, 452 down from the previous day.

This marked the first time in 32 days that the number fell below 1,000.

The number of people released from isolation after showing no symptoms of the disease for more than two weeks increased from 14,702 on Saturday to 15,158 on Sunday.