South Korea Reports No New MERS Cases For First Time In 16 Days; Thailand Says 175 People Exposed

South Korea reported no additional deaths and no new cases from its MERS outbreak, raising hopes the country is winning the battle to contain the deadly virus ©Jung Yeon-Je (AFP)

South Korea on Saturday said that there had been no new cases of MERS reported for the first time in 16 days, raising hopes the country is winning the battle to contain the deadly virus.

The number of fatalities also remained unchanged at 24, while confirmed cases were stable at 166 over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

AFP reports six more patients had recovered and were released from hospital, cutting to 106 the number now undergoing treatment, while restrictions on more than 700 people were lifted Saturday, leaving some 5,200 people in quarantine.

The ministry on Friday reported one new case, the lowest rate of new infections in two weeks, saying the outbreak appeared to have started subsiding since the first case was diagnosed on May 20.

One of those who had recovered was 37-year-old doctor Park Kyu-Tae, who contracted the virus at Samsung Medical Centre -- one of the epicentres of the outbreak -- on May 27.

He fully recovered from the disease and returned home on Thursday, only a week after he was diagnosed.

Park caught the virus while working in the hospital's emergency room, which had been contaminated by a "super spreader" of the virus, the JoongAng Ilbo daily reported.

In Thailand, which Thursday reported Southeast Asia's first case of MERS since the deadly virus was confirmed in South Korea, authorities stepped up measures to contain the outbreak.

Bangkok's main airport has installed additional thermoscan machines to detect and isolate passengers arriving with a fever, one of the symptoms of MERS, said a health ministry statement on Saturday.

It has also set up counters offering passengers alcoholic gel disinfectant and free surgical masks.

The Omani man, 75, found to have MERS in Thailand was "slightly better", a health ministry spokesman told AFP, while no new cases have been confirmed.

He is in a hospital on the outskirts of Bangkok where he was transferred after arriving earlier in the week for treatment for a heart condition.

Test results Friday for his three accompanying relatives, quarantined at the same hospital, were negative for two and "inconclusive" for the third.

Graphic on the South Korean MERS outbreak

Reuters reports a total of 175 people were exposed to Thailand's only case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and the patient's condition has improved, the health ministry said on Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said it had been in touch with all 175 and had instructed them to stay away from public spaces and for medical personnel to monitor their health.

Also on Saturday, South Korea's health ministry said that no new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) had been recorded, the first time in 16 days, and there were no more deaths.

The deadly disease, which was first identified in Saudi Arabia, has killed 24 people and infected 166 people in South Korea since it was detected there last month.

On Friday, Thai health minister Rajata Rajatanavin told reporters the chances of a MERS outbreak in Thailand like the one in South Korea were low.

"Health authorities were able to isolate the patient very quickly before he could travel any further and infect others. The patient spent most of his time in hospitals," said Rajata.

The virus was first detected in Thailand in a 75-year-old man from Oman who travelled to Bangkok for treatment of a heart condition.

On Thursday, the man was moved from Bumrungrad International Hospital to an infectious diseases facility.

Three relatives of the man are also being kept in isolation rooms at the institute and had tested negative for the virus, Surachet Satiniramai, acting permanent secretary at the health ministry, said on Saturday.

"The condition of the MERS patient is better overall," he said. "The chest x-rays show improvement and he can eat soft food." .

Thai authorities have said it had taken nearly four days to confirm the illness.

Doctors at Bumrungrad Hospital said on Friday that it quarantined 58 staff members but that there was no sign of panic and no patients at the hospital had asked for transfer to other facilities.

MERS was first identified in humans in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and the majority of cases have been in the Middle East. Isolated cases have cropped up in Asia before South Korea's outbreak.