In an effort to track down additional Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cases in South Korea, health authorities with the Department of Health and Human Services (computer translated) are conducting a nationwide census on all hospitalized pneumonia patients over the age of 15.
The maneuver is intended to stop the nosocomial spread of the MERS virus. One the census begins, movement of hospitalized patients will be prohibited.
The case and death count due to the novel coronavirus continues its rise in South Korea. According to health officials (computer translated), 13 additional cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) were reported, including two fatalities, bring the totals to 108 and 9, respectively.
Samsung Medical Center continues to report the most with 10 additional cases, while two visitors who had stayed in a ward in Konyang University Hospital and a ward in Dae-Chung Hospital in which a confirmed patient was admitted; and one visitor who had stayed in the same ward in Hallym University Medical Center as another confirmed patient.
To date, in addition to the laboratory-confirmed MERS cases involved in the outbreak in Korea, 1 155 cases have been reported to the WHO, including at least 444 deaths. Of note, 1 130 cases globally were confirmed in nine Middle East countries, including 1 015 in the KSA, 73 in the United Arab Emirates, 13 in Qatar, 12 in Jordan, six each in Iran and Oman, three in Kuwait, and one each in Lebanon and Yemen.
