2015 mers outbreak in south korea 2015 mers outbreak in south korea an outbreak of middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus occurred in south korea from may 2015 to july 2015. the virus, which causes middle east respiratory syndrome (mers), was a newly emerged betacoronavirus that was first identified in a patient from saudi arabia in april 2012. from the outbreak, a total of 186 cases were infected in the country, with a death toll of 38. 2015 middle east respiratory syndrome outbreak in south koreaseoulpyeongtaekdaejeonasanhwaseongbusandaeguyonginsokchogyeongjusunchangjejuboryeong hospital where confirmed mers cases were exposed location where confirmed mers cases visiteddate20 may 2015locationsouth koreacasualties cases: 186 deaths: 38 outbreak south korea reported its first mers case on 20 may 2015. a 68-year-old man returning from the middle east was diagnosed with mers nine days after he initially sought medical help. the following table shows the daily statistics on the number of infected persons since 20 may 2015, based on the official report of the central mers management task force, ministry of health and welfare at the beginning of each day. datecases*1*2deaths*2 20 may 201520 21 may 201530 26 may 201550 27 may 201550 28 may 201570 29 may 2015130 30 may 2015150 31 may 2015180 1 june 2015251 2 june 2015301 3 june 2015303 4 june 2015364 5 june 2015425 6 june 2015645 7 june 2015875 8 june 2015957 9 june 20151087 10 june 20151229 11 june 201512610 12 june 201513813 13 june 201514514 14 june 201515016 15 june 201515419 16 june 201516219 17 june 201516523 18 june 201516624 19 june 201516624 20 june 201516925 21 june 201517227 22 june 201517527 23 june 201517927 24 june 201518029 25 june 201518131 26 june 201518231 27 june 201518232 28 june 201518232 29 june 201518233 30 june 201518233 1 july 201518333 2 july 201518433 3 july 201518533 4 july 201518633 5 july 201518633 6 july 201518633 7 july 201518635 8 july 201518635 9 july 201518635 10 july 201518636 11 july 201518636 12 july 201518636 13 july 201518636 14 july 201518636 15 july 201518636 16 july 201518636 17 july 201518636 18 july 201518636 19 july 201518636 20 july 201518636 21 july 201518636 22 july 201518636 23 july 201518636 24 july 201518636 25 july 201518636 26 july 201518636 27 july 201518636 28 july 2015 ~ 24 october 201518636 25 october 201518637 26 october 2015 ~ 24 november 201518637 25 november 201518638 26 november 2015 ~ 28 september 201618638 ^*1 includes a case reported in china ^*2 parentheses indicate interim value 2015 mers outbreak in south korea mers confirmed cases status mers quarantine status main transmission route and event timeline mers-cov, 2015, south korea key (see also within diagram): h hospital / clinic hcw health care worker circled number patient case number dates are dates of diagnosis government reaction the korean ministry of health and welfare initially withheld details from the public, as identifying the medical institution treating a mers patient might cause unnecessary anxiety to its other patients. this policy lacked public acceptance, and was heavily criticized as preventing the ministry from properly notifying hospitals and municipal governments. on 3 june, it was found that the ministry had not notified the incheon municipal government of the transfer of an infected patient to its local medical institution. the following day the seoul municipal government announced that it had learned by chance, through an official attending a meeting, that a hospital doctor, who began to show symptoms on 29 may and tested positive on 1 june, had been moving freely within the city and had attended a gathering of 1,565 people in gaepo-dong on 30 may. the municipal government obtained a list of the 1,565; the ministry proposed to undertake "passive surveillance"; the municipal government rejected this as "lukewarm" and intervened directly: initially by contacting those listed. on 7 june, after 2,361 people were isolated, 64 patients were confirmed infected and 5 had died, the central government finally disclosed the names of mers-exposed medical institutions. hospitals on 7 june 2015, the south korean government released the names of 24 mers-affected hospitals to the public. these hospitals include the pyeongtaek st. mary's (seongmo) hospital (평택성모병원) and the seoul samsung hospital (삼성서울병원), an affiliate of samsung medical center. hospitals where confirmed mers cases were exposed, as of 12 july 2015, 11:00 hospitalkorean namecity/provinceno. of cases samsung medical centre삼성서울병원gangnam-gu/ seoul90 pyeongtaek st. mary's hospital평택성모병원pyeongtaek/ gyeonggi province37 dae cheong hospital대청병원seo-gu/ daejeon14 konyang university hospital건양대학교병원seo-gu/ daejeon11 hallym university medical centre한림대학교동탄성심병원hwaseong/ gyeonggi province6 gangdong gyeonghee university hospital강동경희대학교의대병원gangdong-gu/ seoul5 gunguk university hospital건국대병원gwangjin-gu/ seoul4 pyeongtaek good morning hospital평택굿모닝병원pyeongtaek/ gyeonggi province4 asan seoul clinic아산서울의원asan / chungnam province1 yangji samsung medical center양지 서울삼성의원yongin/ gyeonggi province1 365 yeol lin clinic365 열린의원gangdong-gu/ seoul1 yeouido st. mary's hospital가톨릭대학교 여의도성모병원yeongdeungpo-gu/ seoul1 asan medical center서울아산병원songpa-gu/ seoul1 good gang-an hospital좋은강안병원suyeong-gu/ busan1 dr. song clinic송태의 내과songpa-gu/ seoul1 others (outside hospitals, under investigation)7 total186 related incidents a 44-year-old south korean man travelled to huizhou, china via hong kong, on business, on 26 may, contrary to a doctor's advice and in breach of a self-quarantine order from the government: his father and elder sister were both confirmed infected by mers. he was later found to have a fever, and was subsequently confirmed infected. he was suspected of dishonestly failing to disclose to hong kong border quarantine officers that he had visited his father in hospital on 16 may for nearly 4 hours. on 30 may 2015, a website said that a driver in huizhou who transported a south korean male mers patient was suspected to be infected but later the government clarified that this was a rumor. a chinese fugitive who stayed in south korea for 3 years turned himself in as he was afraid of the outbreak. he arrived at dalian zhoushuizi international airport on 4 june. on 8 june 2015, a south korean couple who did not follow the self-quarantine notice were found to have visited the philippines on 6 june. they had visited the respective clinics in sunchang county where a 72-year-old woman was confirmed positive for mers after having visited the clinic for lumbago treatment. the couple said that they only knew that the 72-year-old woman was a mers-positive patient only after reading the news. on 9 june 2015, two hong kong students from city university of hong kong doing a three-month exchange program in sungkyunkwan university were ordered by a professor to get out of the classroom as they refused to remove their protective masks. the professor also said that they were too sensitive to the outbreak because of the history of sars in hong kong in 2003. sungkyunkwan university replied that some professors saw wearing masks as impolite and said if students insist on wearing masks, they might be refused to give presentations in class and may be unable to graduate due to this. affected students said this reflected that the south korean public was not attentive to the threat of the mers outbreak. on 25 june, a south korean man who had been treated at a chinese hospital after being diagnosed with the mers virus in late may, was released from the hospital and returned to south korea. effects education the following table shows the number of schools that temporarily closed due to the outbreak: datenumber of schools closed 2 june 201584 3 june 2015214 4 june 20151,162 5 june 20151,317 7 june 20151,381 (7 in gyeonggi province) 8 june 20151,970 9 june 20152,208 15 june 2015475 economy on 11 june 2015, south korea's central bank cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to stem the economic fallout from the outbreak. south korea's department store sales decreased by 16.5% compared to the same period last year, and retail shops also decreased 3.4%, according to the minister of strategy and finance, as of 17 june 2015. as of 17 june 2015, 100,000 tourist visits to the nation had been cancelled. testing infrastructure