South Korea reports 16th MERS death, 5 new cases

South Korea announced on Monday that the death toll from the MERS virus outbreak has reached 16. Five new cases were reported in the country, which has placed more than 5,200 people under quarantine amid widespread alarm. The outbreak began last month and has worried health officials. The total number of cases — including the 16 deaths — has risen to 150, with 17 patients in unstable condition.

We sincerely apologize with our heads bent to the people for causing great concern as Samsung Medical Center became the center (of) the spread of MERS.

Samsung Medical Hospital President Song Jae-hoon, in an apology for the facility’s handling of the MERS outbreak.

The five new patients — between the ages of 39 and 84 — were infected in hospitals in cities. Among them was a nurse who had performed CPR on an infected patient in Daejeon and one infected in Samsung Medical Center in Seoul — the epicenter of the outbreak where more than 70 patients, visitors and medical staff contracted the virus. The outbreak — the largest outside Saudi Arabia — started on May 20 when a 68-year-old man was diagnosed after returning from a trip to that country. Since then the virus has spread at an unusually rapid pace, sparking concern in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

MERS Health