Thirteen more MERS cases lift Korean outbreak total to 108
Lisa Schnirring
CIDRAP News
Jun 10, 2015
South Korea’s health ministry today reported 13 new MERS-CoV cases, boosting the hospital-linked outbreak total to 108, as the number of affected health facilities grew and a World Health Organization (WHO) joint mission made an early recommendation that the nation’s schools resume.
Ten of the latest confirmed cases were among people exposed to the virus at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, which experienced a gush of cases after a patient infected at an earlier hospital was admitted there, Yonhap News Agency reported today.
Health officials also reported two deaths in earlier announced cases, raising the fatality count to nine, according to the report.
List of affected facilities grows to 36
So far infections have been reported only in hospital settings. The number of people in isolation rose from about 3,000 yesterday to 3,439 today, Yonhap reported. It added that all 13 of the new cases are in people who were in isolation after suspected exposure to MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus).
Meanwhile, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) added more hospitals to its list of affected facilities. In a table translated and posted by Avian Flu Diary, an infectious disease news blog, the KCDC said 36 institutions in 7 cities and provinces are among the locations connected to the outbreak. The total is up from 29 reported yesterday.
According to the table, which appears to have data for 95 patients, nine hospitals have MERS-CoV patients and the rest were visited by a patient diagnosed as havnig the disease. The largest numbers, with 37 patients apiece, are at two hospitals: Pyeongtaek St Mary’s in Gyeonggi province and Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.
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