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MERS death toll hits 20, 8 new cases in S. Korea

June 17, 2015
Officials from a Seoul district office purchase daily necessities, including food, for suspected MERS patients in Seoul on June 17, 2015 as the number of people in isolation for possible infection reached 6,508. (Yonhap)

Officials from a Seoul district office purchase daily necessities, including food, for suspected MERS patients in Seoul on June 17, 2015 as the number of people in isolation for possible infection reached 6,508. (Yonhap)

SEJONG, June 17 (Yonhap) — South Korea reported an additional death from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Wednesday, with eight new cases that brought the total number of people diagnosed with the disease here to 162.

The latest fatality put the death toll at 20, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The ministry said nearly 90 percent of those who died from MERS had existing health conditions, which were apparently worsened by the infection.

The latest person to die from the disease also had an existing respiratory problem, as well as high blood pressure, prior to infection, a ministry official said.

So far, 19 others who were diagnosed with MERS have been discharged from hospitals following complete recoveries.

Four of the eight new cases were again linked to the emergency room of Seoul’s Samsung Medical Hospital, which has voluntarily shut down most of its operations after it was blamed for nearly half of all transmissions.

As of Tuesday, 83 other hospitals have been affected by the disease, mostly by unknowingly treating a MERS patient or a carrier.

Currently, 124 MERS patients remained in hospital care while 18 of them were in unstable conditions, according to the ministry.

Some 6,500 others were in isolation as of Wednesday for possible infection after coming in close contact with MERS patients. The number jumped from 5,586 on the previous day.

MERS is a viral respiratory disease first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It has since been reported in some 20 other countries though nearly all cases have been linked to the Middle East, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disease had a very high fatality rate of over 40 percent until the outbreak here. In South Korea, the fatality rate remains at around 12 percent.

Amid a continued spread of the disease here, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened a meeting of its emergency committee concerning MERS coronavirus in Geneva on Tuesday to review the outbreak here and see if it requires a special alarm for the rest of the world, known as public health emergency of international concern.

The outcome of the meeting was expected later Wednesday.

A joint response team of WHO officials and South Korean experts earlier pointed out the country’s traditional culture of family members tending to their loved ones in hospitals as a major factor driving the spread of the disease here.

Out of 162 people diagnosed with the disease here, 83 percent, or 134, are family members or friends of MERS patients, according to the health ministry.

So far, nearly all infections occurred at hospitals with the only known exception involving an ambulance driver and a rescue worker who helped transport MERS patients.