75 released from MERS quarantine in S China

All 75 people in Guangdong Province, south China, who had been in close contact with a man that had contracted Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) have been released from quarantine, local health authorities announced Thursday.

A man from the Republic of Korea (ROK) tested positive for MERS while in Guangdong on May 29.

According to Guangdong Health and Family Planning Commission, the patient is now in a stable condition. He has not had a fever for a few days, but still occasionally coughs and his lungs remain inflamed, doctors said.

All 75 people tested negative for MERS twice. Fourty-four people were released from quarantine on Tuesday and the rest were released Wednesday, the commission said.

The man, 44, had visited a MERS patient at a ROK hospital and was displaying symptoms as early as May 21.

Despite a doctor recommending that he cancel his travel plans, he flew to Hong Kong on May 26, entering Huizhou City via Shenzhen.

According to experts from Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, although all 75 people are no longer quarantined, there is still a chance that the disease may spread. Therefore, the public must pay greater attention to their health and cooperate with the authorities.

MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, similar to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The first human case was recorded in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, which has a fatality rate of about 40 percent. Endi