Two new cases in South Korea since the start of July, bringing the total to 184 cases. These cases were confirmed by the Korean government after a brief hiatus of 3 days where no new cases were reported. Both are young nurses at Samsung Medical Centre (Seoul). There are now 33 deaths (case fatality rate of 17.9%), with 12 others that remain clinically “unstable”. The number of persons isolated/quarantined remains high at 2,067 as of yesterday morning. It has been clear for some time that there is virtually no risk of widespread community transmission of the MERS-CoV in South Korea. Nonetheless, perception is not matched with reality and Koreans that have fallen ill while overseas have been quarantined even up to recently. Travelers (or returning residents) from Korea to Singapore remain liable to be isolated/quarantined if they present to our local healthcare institutions with fever and respiratory symptoms.

MERS-CoV cases in South Korea according to date of confirmation and hospitals involved.

Thailand has now been declared MERS free after the recovery of the imported MERS case from Oman, and the passage of 14 days quarantine for all his contacts.