The South Korean health ministry has confirmed that four new cases emerged as the country struggles to contain the potentially-deadly virus called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Health officials on Wednesday said that the outbreak is posing public threat and fear among constituents.
The total number of cases has reached 179 this week. Around 27 patients have already died. The slow progression of the virus can be rooted to guarded assessments and abundance of precaution implemented by the health ministry and the government, Reuters reports.
However, World Health Organization reports that even though South Korea has shown progress in controlling the spread of the disease, they still incurred a large number of cases in just seven weeks. Saudi Arabia has reported 201 cases of MERS in one whole year.
"We are at a crossroads, whether this is going to spread further or not," Kwon Deok-cheol, the health ministry's chief policy official said in a press release.
"As of now we can't answer that part because additional cases have occurred, although we thought until last weekend it had leveled off," he added.
Meanwhile, Yahoo reports that two hospitals in South Korea have partially closed in an effort to stop the spread of MERS. This is due to the four new cases that emerged in the peak of the outbreak. The new cases of MERS involved two individuals who stayed in the same hospital ward as other patients with the virus while the other is a nurse at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul. The other one was a relative of a patient who was hospitalized in Pyeongtaek, Seoul.
This outbreak in South Korea is the largest outbreak in Asia aside from Saudi Arabia where the virus started in 2012. The disease is a relatively new disease that is why there is still no cure or vaccine to fight against it.