MERS outbreak grows as 1,369 in quarantine; 3 dead
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Hong Kong (CNN) The World Health Organization warned that the MERS outbreak in South Korea is likely to grow, as the number of people under quarantine crept up to 1,369 on Wednesday.
The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed five new cases -- increasing the number of people with the disease to 35. These new cases were contracted within hospitals.
So far, three people have died after contracting the respiratory virus in South Korea, the country's Health Ministry said Thursday, in the largest MERS outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.
The first case, concerning a man who returned to South Korea after traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain, was reported on May 20. The person had not been ill during his travels, according to the World Health Organization.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye acknowledged problems in the country's early response earlier this week.
"Initial reaction for new infectious diseases like MERS is very important, but there were some insufficiency in the initial response, including the judgment on its contagiousness," she said.
She convened an emergency MERS meeting on Wednesday.
MERS is in the same family of viruses as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) as well as the common cold. However, MERS does not spread easily between humans -- as far as scientists know at this point.
South Korean health officials on Sunday reported 14 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, bringing the total in the country's outbreak to 64, and said a fifth person infected with the virus had died.
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