TOKYO (Sputnik) – According to the South Korean daily, an ambulance driver, who was taking MERS-infected patients to a hospital on June 5-6, has caught the virus himself. Prior to this case, MERS transmission between humans was believed to have taken place only within hospital walls.
Over 130 people have been infected with MERS in South Korea, while 14 have died from the virus, according to the latest data from country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The South Korean government has acknowledged that the outbreak has been fueled by insufficient safety measures when the first MERS patients were hospitalized in May.
MERS is a viral respiratory disease caused by a certain type of coronavirus. First reported in 2012 in Saudi Arabia, it has since spread to other countries.
Fever, coughing and shortness of breath are among the typical symptoms of MERS, for which there is currently no vaccine.
