South Korea reported no additional cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome for the 30th consecutive day on Tuesday, with the number of people diagnosed with the disease remaining flat at 186.
The country’s death toll from the disease also remained fixed at 36 as the country reported no additional fatalities for the past 24 days.
Out of the 186 people diagnosed so far, 138 have been discharged from hospitals following complete recoveries.
The remaining 12 are still hospitalized, but 11 of them have already tested negative for MERS, leaving only one MERS patient.
The country declared a de facto end to the MERS outbreak last Tuesday, but an official declaration needs at least 28 days after the last remaining patient tests negative for MERS, according to officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
In addition to those diagnosed, four other people were currently in isolation for possible infection.
They include two people who showed possible symptoms of the potentially deadly disease following their recent trips to Middle Eastern countries, according to the ministry officials.
The number of people in isolation dropped from 72 on the previous day as three people who had also reported possible symptoms of MERS following their trips tested negative for the disease. The remaining 65 were those who came in contact with the three people who have tested negative.
Since the country reported its first MERS case on May 20, some 16,700 people have been subject to isolation for possible infection. They are released after showing no symptoms of MERS for more than the known maximum incubation period of 14 days for the disease.
MERS is a viral respiratory disease that was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
Since then, the disease has affected over 1,300 people throughout the world, but nearly all cases, including the outbreak here, have been linked to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.
Globally, the disease carries a fatality rate of about 36 percent. In South Korea, the fatality rate currently stands at 19.4 percent.
With the MERS outbreak nearing an apparent end here, the United Arab Emirates has resumed sending its patients to South Korea for medical services, the health ministry said.
According to the ministry, the UAE government has sent 42 patients in groups to the country between July 21 and Aug. 3.
The UAE government pays travel and medical expenses of patients who require special medical care that is unavailable in the UAE.
The country stopped sending patients to South Korea on June 10.
Until the MERS outbreak here, the UAE had been sending an average of 60 patients per month to South Korea, the ministry said. (Yonhap)
