2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea
 Seoul
Pyeongtaek
Daejeon
Asan
Hwaseong
 Busan
Daegu
Yongin
Sokcho
Gyeongju
Sunchang
Jeju
Boryeong
 Hospital where confirmed MERS cases were exposed Location where confirmed MERS cases visited |
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| Date | 20 May 2015 – 28 July 2015 |
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| Location | South Korea |
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An outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus occurred in South Korea from May 2015 to July 2015. The virus, which causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), was a newly emerged betacoronavirus that was first identified in a patient from Saudi Arabia in April 2012. From the outbreak, a total of 186 cases have been infected, with a death toll of 36.
South Korea reported its first MERS case on 20 May 2015. A 68-year-old man returning from the Middle East was diagnosed with MERS nine days after he initially sought medical help.
The following table shows the daily statistics on the number of infected persons since 20 May 2015, based on the official report of the Central MERS Management Task Force, Ministry of Health and Welfare at the beginning of each day.
^*1 Includes a case reported in China
^*2 Parentheses indicate interim value
2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea
MERS confirmed cases status
MERS quarantine status
Main transmission route and event timeline for MERS-CoV in South Korea as of 15 June 2015
Ministry of Health and Welfare did not disclose the relevant information to the public at the beginning of the outbreak. According to them, disclosing the names of medical institutions that are hospitalizing the MERS patient might cause unnecessary anxiety to the facility users.
Such action was not welcomed by the public and the Ministry’s action to regulate the outbreak was heavily criticized due to its inability to properly disclose the information to hospitals and municipal government.
On 3 June 2015, it was found that the Ministry did not notify the Incheon municipal government the transfer of infected patient to its local medical institution.
On 4 June 2015, Seoul municipal government disclosed that a thirty-fifth infected patient had been discharged, unaware of the infection, and had moved freely within Seoul city, but was not notified of such patient by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, but rather, was found out by the Seoul government official.
After 2,361 people were isolated, 64 patients were infected and 5 infected patients died, the central government finally disclosed the names of MERS exposed medical institutions on 7 June 2015.
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