MERS-infected S Koreans rise to 7

The number of South Koreans infected with MERS rose to seven just eight days after the patient zero was confirmed positive on May 20, the country's disease control center said Thursday.

The first patient was an unidentified 68-year-old male who traveled to the Middle Eastern region before returning to South Korea on May 4. His wife became the second patient who contracted the MERS corona-virus.

The third infectee was a 76-year-old man who shared a hospital room with the first patient, and his daughter who attended to the third patient became the fourth.

The 76-year-old man's son, who came to China for a business trip, is believed to be infected with the deadly virus. His son is now under observation in isolation in South China's Guangdong province.

Yang Byeong-kook, chief of the disease control center, told a press briefing that the South Korean man, who went to China, failed to notify the health authorities of his visit to his father during the initial epidemiological survey.

The doctor, who examined the patient zero earlier this month, became the fifth case infected with the deadly viral disease.

The MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a new type of corona-virus. The first case was found in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, with its fatality rate reaching 40.7 percent.