DHAKA: South Korea on Saturday confirmed nine more cases of the MERS virus, which has killed four people, but said it did not represent a spread of the outbreak as the infected were already in quarantine.

The additional cases brought the total number of people infected with the virus to 50.

The new cases were part of a group of 1,660 quarantined after they came into contact with people infected with the disease prior to the first case being diagnosed on May 20, the health ministry said.

‘The nine people contracted the virus (in three different) hospitals and there is no evidence to suggest any transmissions in communities outside hospital settings,’ it said in a press statement, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1613 HRS, JUN 06, 2015
RR