The number of people being monitored for possible Middle East respiratory syndrome in Gyeonggi Province reduced for the first time this week since its outbreak last month.
The province’s MERS countermeasures headquarters said Wednesday that as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, a total of 2,019 were put on watch, down by 84 from 2,103 the day before.
The team had been keeping count of suspected MERS patients since June 1.
The number had surged from 910 on June 1 to 1,040 the next day, and continued to rise until Monday.
“As time passes, more people with no signs of symptoms are being excluded from the watch list. We anticipate the number to continue to decline into this weekend.”
A total of 454 officials in charge of health affairs, 558 in administrative affairs and 717 in the police are being mobilized to monitor the people in the region.
As of Thursday morning, 95 had been confirmed of MERS nationwide, of which 45 reside in Gyeonggi Province.
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)
