The number of people diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea remained flat at 186 on Thursday as the country reported no additional cases of the disease for the 25th straight day.
The country’s death toll from the disease also remained unchanged at 36 for the 19th consecutive day, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Out of the 186 diagnosed so far, 138 have been discharged following complete recoveries.
The remaining 12 are still hospitalized, but 11 of them have already tested negative and are now recovering from other complications caused by MERS, according to ministry officials.
However, the number of people in isolation for possible infection has climbed to nine from one on the previous day.
Two of the nine suspected cases involved people who recently traveled to Middle Eastern countries, supposedly the source of the MERS coronavirus. The remaining seven are those who have come in close contact with them.
None of them has tested positive for the potentially deadly disease, the ministry officials said.
MERS is a viral respiratory syndrome that was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
The disease has since affected over 1,300 people throughout the world, but most of the cases have been linked to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.
South Korea has the second-largest number of MERS cases in the world after Saudi Arabia, which has reported over 1,000 cases since 2012.
The fatality rate of the disease in South Korea remains at 19.4 percent, while the rate for the rest of the world is around 40 percent. (Yonhap)
