An additional Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) case reported by Korean health officials (computer translated) brings the total cases to 182, including one patient diagnosed in China. The death toll remains at 31.
According to the preliminary information of the health authority of Korea, the patient is a health-care worker of Kyunghee University Hospital at Gangdong.
Out of the 182 people diagnosed, only 61 remained hospitalized as of Saturday as 90 of them have been discharged following complete recoveries.
It is also reported that China’s Guangdong Province health and family planning commission has discharged the country’s first confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS). The 44-year-old Korean man, who tested positive for MERS in Guangdong on May 29, has returned returned to the Republic of Korea.
Planning on lying about your possible disease exposure in Korea? Not a good idea as Thursday, the South Korean parliament passed the law which could punish with fines and jail sentences those who defy anti-MERS measures and fail to provide state investigators with honest answers about how they came into contact with the infection.
“False testimony would entail up two years in prison or 20 million won ($18,000) in fines,” the South Korean Health Ministry said in a statement, adding that the law compelled interviewees to “provide honest answers.”
