By Kim Bo-eun
The health ministry Saturday confirmed the 13th patient of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
The person is the husband of the 12th patient and has been reported to have been infected while taking care of his wife at the hospital where the country's first MERS case broke out.
He was taken to the hospital after suffering from a high fever and other symptoms and has been isolated.
Out of the 13 patients, 10 were reported from the same hospital where the first case was reported.
The viral respiratory illness was first confirmed in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Since then, 1,154 cases in 24 countries have been reported.
Treatments or vaccines for the disease, which has a 40 percent fatality rate, have yet to be developed.
Korea has seen a fast rise in patients in the past few days after the first case was confirmed May 20.