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Tests show South Korean in Slovakia probably does not have MERS

Tests show a 38-year-old South Korean man admitted to hospital in Slovakia with suspected Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) probably does not have the potentially deadly virus, the Slovak Health Ministry said on Sunday. Ministry spokesman Peter Bubla said the patient, who was taken to a Bratislava hospital on Saturday, would undergo further tests. An outbreak of the virus in South Korea has infected 145 people and killed 14 of them since it was first diagnosed in May in a businessman who had returned from a trip to the Middle East.

South Korea reports 14 more MERS cases, fifth death

South Korean health officials on Sunday reported 14 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, bringing the total in the country’s outbreak to 64, and said a fifth person infected with the virus had died. South Korea’s outbreak of the often-deadly MERS virus, first reported on May 20, is the largest outside the Middle East, prompting public fear and questions over the government’s initial response. The patient who died was a 75-year-old man who had been in the same Seoul hospital emergency room where a total of 17 people, including two medical staff, are believed to have been infected with MERS, South Korea’s health ministry said.

North Korea, running scared from Ebola, bans foreigners from marathon

By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has banned foreign runners from participating in an international marathon scheduled to be held in the capital in April, citing fears about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, a Beijing-based travel agency said on Monday. North Korea is thousands of miles from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and has reported no cases of the virus, which has killed more than 9,000 people. Nonetheless, its borders have remained closed to foreign tourists since last October, for fear the virus might spread, and it imposes a strict 21-day quarantine for foreign aid workers and diplomats, who have been told to stay in embassy compounds. “Our North Korean partners in Pyongyang contacted us this morning with news that the 2015 Pyongyang Marathon has – as of today – been closed to amateur and professional foreign runners,” Nick Bonner, director of Koryo Tours, told Reuters in an emailed statement.