South Korea seals hospitals to stop MERS outbreak

(Vatican Radio/Reuters)   South Korea has sealed off two hospitals that treated people with the deadly MERS respiratory disease. At least 133 people, patients and staff, will remain sealed off for at least the next 11 days - the incubation period of the virus.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has infected 126 people in South Korea and killed 11 since it was first diagnosed just over three weeks ago in a businessman who had returned from a trip to the Middle East.

The outbreak is the largest outside Saudi Arabia, where the disease was first identified in humans in 2012, and has stirred fears in Asia of a repeat of a 2002-03 scare when Severe AcuteRespiratory Syndrome (SARS) killed about 800 people worldwide.

The 68-year-old man who brought the virus back from the Middle East visited several health centres for treatment of a nagging cough and fever before he was diagnosed, leaving a trail of infection in his wake.

All but one of South Korea's cases have been confirmed as originating with the businessman, who was diagnosed with MERS on May 20, and occurring in health-care centres, and the last one is likely to be confirmed as such too, the health ministry said.

World Health Organisation (WHO) experts are in South Korea working with the government and Saudi Arabian health officials are meeting authorities on Friday.

The four new cases reported on Friday marked the lowest daily increase in 11 days, raising hope the worst might be over.

The number of people in quarantine, either at home or in medical facilities, also declined for the first time, by 125 to 3,680, the ministry said.