No new MERS cases in South Korea

Egyptian authorities have detected the first case of a unsafe SARS-like virus in the country, the state news agency said Saturday.

Middle East respiratory syndrome has killed 24 people and sickened more than 160 people in South Korea, the biggest outbreak outside the region where it was first seen in 2012. The doctor’s identity at this point is being kept secret. It appears that the disease spread to humans from camels, which may themselves have been infected by bats. But his test results confirmed that he did not contract the virus.

Now the man has been off the ventilator for the past five days and is breathing normally, but his condition is very weak, officials are hopeful that it will improve. He was diagnosed with Mers on June 18 and has since been treated in an isolation ward at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi province.

Persons in contact with the patient, also under monitor in keep with the disease surveillance measures, will be completing their 14-days monitoring period tonight.

Her infection brings the Saudi MERS total to 1,042 cases since June 2012, including 460 deaths, the MOH reported in today’s update.

Confusion and secrecy over the Mers outbreak have fanned public uncertainty, and parallels have been drawn with the government’s poor response to last year’s Sewol ferry disaster, which subdued domestic demand for many months, Ms Dabbs said.

The justice ministry said visas which had been already issued would be extended for another three months as South Korea enters its peak tourist season of July and August.

As the hospital continued to report new cases, the shutdown was extended indefinitely. MERS can cause symptoms such as fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure.

A three percent increase in economic growth would delight many western countries, but not for Asian countries such as South Korea, whose economy is mostly driven by exports.