No new MERS cases in South Korea after 16 days

South Korea has reported no new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) for the first time in 16 days, indicating the first piece of good news after the outbreak of the deadly virus.

South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on Saturday that the number of fatalities associated with the MERS outbreak remained unchanged at 24, with a total of 166 confirmed infections over the past 24 hours, the largest outside Saudi Arabia. It added that six more patients had recovered and were released from hospital.

According to the ministry, restrictions on more than 700 people were lifted on Saturday while some 5,200 people are in quarantine.

The ministry on Friday reported just one new patient, the lowest rate of new infections in two weeks, saying the MERS outbreak appeared to have started leveling off since the first case was confirmed on May 20.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) criticized Seoul for not having the virus outbreak under control.

WHO said that the MERS outbreak was a "wake-up call" and that a lack of knowledge on the virus among medical workers and the public was a key contributing factor to its rapid spread.

MERS, a cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), causes coughing, fever, pneumonia and kidney failure, but it does not appear to be as contagious as SARS, which killed some 800 people in a 2003 epidemic.

The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been reported in Saudi Arabia, where more than 950 people have been infected and 412 have died from the illness.

SF/NN/HRB

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