We start with the emergency meeting presided over by President Park Geun－hye on Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome， or MERS， which has caused two deaths in Korea.
For more，... we connect with our Connie Kim at the news center.
Connie.
At the meeting， attended by ministers and doctors， President Park called for containment
measures and other ways of dealing with the outbreak.
″We need to discuss how the patients are being treated， the infection route... and
the subsequent movements of the doctors treating the patients.
And then， we also need to track the movements of the doctors and those who were in contact
with the patients.″
President Park emphasized the need to prevent the further spread of the disease，... including...
keeping track of people traveling in and out of MERS－infected countries， as well as
ways to completely isolate MERS－infected patients from the general public.
She vowed to create a team of health experts to devise measures to protect children and
the elderly， the latter of which are more prone to the viral disease.
Thirty MERS cases have been confirmed so far， but that figure could rise quickly， as hundreds
more are suspected of having contracted the virus.
Connie， give us the details.
Daniel， Korea′s health ministry says a total of 398 people are suspected of having
contracted the disease， and 99 of them are currently being tested.
Five new MERS cases were confirmed today.
Four of the five were in the same hospital ward as the first patient.
One tertiary infection was confirmed in a 60－year－old man who shared the same hospital
room with a patient whose case was confirmed earlier.
And some unsettling news three patients are reported to be in critical condition.
However， three other confirmed MERS patients are set to be released from the hospital.
Also， the person with MERS who traveled to Hong Kong has tested negative and is reported
to be in stable condition.
Currently， more than 13－hundred people who had direct contact with MERS patients
are isolated in their homes or in quarantine facilities to prevent the disease from spreading.
Let′s hope those people listen to the authorities... and stay home.
And Connie，... how are health officials viewing today′s confirmation of another
tertiary infection？
Daniel， health officials say there will not be indiscriminate tertiary transmission
of the virus... because all tertiary infections have come from the hospitals where patients
infected with the virus were being treated.
Take a listen to what one expert had to say.
″Hospitals that are treating MERS patients prevent other people from entering those wards.
Places other than these hospitals are virus－free.″
Kim said， however， people should refrain from visiting someone who was diagnosed with
MERS even if they are in recovery.
Now， another concerning issue as the number of confirmed MERS cases rises，... is that
the country is running out of treatment facilities for new people infected
with
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