(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) South Korea confirmed another death from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and reported eight new cases Tuesday, raising the number of infections to 95.
The latest fatality, the seventh since the country first reported the outbreak on May 20, was a 68-year-old woman who had already been suffering from chronic heart conditions, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
She was hospitalized at Seoul's Samsung Medical Center on May 27-28, during which she came in close contact with a MERS patient.
The total number of people diagnosed with the disease came to 95 as the country confirmed eight new cases.
All eight new patients were infected after coming in close contact with those previously diagnosed at five hospitals, including Asan Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals in the capital.
As of Tuesday morning, 2,892 people, including family members of those diagnosed, were in isolation for possible infection from coming into close contact with a MERS patient, according to the ministry.
The health ministry said it will fully fund the cost of diagnosis and treatment for those who have contracted the disease, as well as those in quarantine as suspected cases.
To help prevent the disease from spreading further, the government has released the names of all hospitals affected by the disease, which stood at 29 as of late Monday.
MERS is a viral respiratory illness that was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The disease had a very high fatality rate of over 40 percent before the outbreak in South Korea, according to the health ministry. Currently, the disease has a fatality rate of around 8 percent here.
YONHAP News Agency said a team of medical experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) was here to help in combating the disease.
The team, together with South Korean officials, was part of a joint response team, which began its four-day investigation earlier in the day with a courtesy call on Vice Health Minister Chang Ok-ju.
Keiji Fukuda, an assistant director-general of the WHO jointly leading the investigation team here, said the country has responded adequately to the outbreak of MERS.
The team's investigation will include visits to MERS-affected hospitals and state-designated quarantine centers to help identify any uniqueness in the MERS coronavirus found here that may explain the fast spreading of the disease.
"The government has decided to switch to an all-out response system as if it was seeking to eliminate the disease this very week," acting Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said in a meeting with officials over the outbreak, adding he will daily attend the emergency meetings until the disease is eliminated.
"This week may be very crucial to overcoming MERS. The government will mobilize all available resources and necessary budget to help eradicate the disease at the earliest date possible," said Choi, who is also the country's finance minister.
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