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South Korea Latest Victim of Deadly Respiratory Virus From Middle East

© Flickr / NIAIDMERS Coronavirus Particles
MERS Coronavirus Particles - Sputnik International
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At least 15 people in South Korea have already been infected with the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the country's health ministry reported on Sunday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is not yet considering declaring a state of emergency over the outbreak of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which has affected more than 20 countries since it was first reported two years ago, WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon told Russia's Sputnik news agency on Tuesday. - Sputnik International
WHO Not Mulling State of Emergency Over MERS Virus Outbreak
The number of South Koreans who have been infected with the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has jumped to 15 after two new cases were confirmed earlier this week, according to the country's Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reports.

The health ministry said that all of the MERS cases had been linked to a 68-year-old man who returned home in early May from the Middle East, where MERS is not uncommon.

"We are making our utmost efforts to prevent the further spread of the disease," South Korean Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo said, apologizing for failing to halt an outbreak of the MERS virus.

He added that the hospital where the first outbreak was registered had already been closed and that all patients were being treated in quarantine.
MERS is believed to be a respiratory illness, which is caused by a new type of corona-virus.

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The first case was detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, which is thought to be a type of virus from the same family as SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

SARS has killed almost 800 people since the beginning of an outbreak in 2002.

According to the World Health Organization, a total of 1,139 MERS cases have been registered across the world, with the death toll currently standing at 431.

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