Seoul mayor visits quarantine hospital with MERS cases

June 16, 2015 Some patients suffering from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) at the Seoul medical center received a guest in the person of Mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon. The facility has recorded about eight cases of the disease so far, and all cases have been treated at isolation wards at the state-designated quarantine hospital.

South Korea‘s health ministry had reported 13 new cases and 2 dead on the 10^th of June, bringing the total number of victims to 108.

At the hospital, the mayor inspected a tent set up for suspected MERS patients to get a health checkup and visited a quarantine ward for confirmed MERS cases.

The outbreak is the largest outside Saudi Arabia, and has caused some panic and public anxiety. Thousands have been placed in quarantine and schools have started to close.  The infection in the country is traced to a man who developed MERS after returning from a trip to the Middle East early last month. Unfortunately, he came into contact with other patients at a hospital before he was diagnosed.