A medical worker walks past a hospital, where 7 patients were infected with MERS, in Seoul, South Korea, June 6, 2015.(Photo: Xinhua/Yao Qilin)
South Korea on Monday identified 23 new contagions with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), increasing the total number to 87 while deaths from the viral disease rose to six as one more death was reported.
Twenty-three infections found Monday alone were the largest daily increase since the first case was identified on May 20, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The total number surged to 87, making the country the world's most MERS-contagious except Saudi Arabia, where more than 1,000 cases were identified.
The 80-year-old infectee passed away early in the morning after being hospitalized at Daecheong Hospital in the country's central city of Daejeon. The death toll rose to six, sending the fatality rate to 6.9 percent.
The health ministry said 10 more infectees have been in serious conditions, leaving a room for more deaths from the disease. All the deceased were the elderly mostly in their 70s and 80s having suffered from other illnesses.
Among the 23 new cases, 17 people were infected from the 14th patient at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul for three days from May 27. The total number infected at the hospital soared to 34.
The 14th infectee was estimated to have transported the virus from the Pyeongtaek St. Mary's Hospital, where the first patient was hospitalized for three days from May 15, to the Samsung Medical Center as he traveled to Seoul by bus from the hospital in Pyeongtaek, some 60 km south of Seoul.
Kwon Joon-wook, head of the central headquarters for the MERS management, told a press briefing that the first phase of epidemic seemed to have ended in the Pyeongtaek hospital because any single case wasn't added from the hospital Monday.
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1st teenager MERS infection reported in S. Korea
The first case of a teenage student infection with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was reported in South Korea, the Education Ministry said on Monday.
The 16-year-old male high school student tested positive for the MERS Sunday, according to the ministry.
The teenager was hospitalized on May 27 at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul for an unidentified illness and underwent a surgery a day later.
