The World Health Organization has announced that the dreaded potentially-deadly virus MERS-CoV has reached Thailand as they reported their first case. Despite the massive spread of the disease with a death toll of 24 in South Korea, the WHO is commending South Korean officials and exhausted health workers for their efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
"All the new information is reassuring, but that reassurance must be qualified," Margaret Chan, spokesperson told New York Times. She says it is a good sign that the virus is not spreading to the wider community.
Meanwhile, CNN reports that Thailand has confirmed its first case of MERS. This entails a wider spread of the diseases that causes severe respiratory syndrome from the Middle East to Eastern Asia. The confirmation came from the Thai Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin on Thursday.
Apparently, a man was diagnosed in Thailand after he came from a Middle Eastern country on June 15. He is now confined in a private hospital in Bangkok where health officials declare him in a stable condition.
So far, there are 160 people in South Korea that were infected with the virus. This is the biggest outbreak of the relatively new disease outside the Middle East where it originated in 2012. However, there are about 5,900 people being observed and quarantined in their homes after a close contact with a patient exposed to the virus.
There is still no vaccine or cure for the virus but preventive measures can do a lot in controlling the spread of the disease. According to health experts, frequent hand washing and covering the nose when sneezing or coughing might seem simple but can contribute a lot in controlling the spread of the disease.