Seoul Opts Not to Declare Formal End to Mers

South Korea decided not to formally declare an end to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak Thursday despite almost no risk of more infections in the country, official sources said.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) had originally planned to make the public announcement Thursday, 28 days after the last patient held in quarantine tested negative for MERS.

The person whose identity has been withheld for privacy reasons was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 1 after repeatedly showing no signs of the virus.

The same person, however, was readmitted to a quarantine ward of a state-run hospital on Oct. 10 after coming down with a fever, with doctors confirming the existence of the MERS virus in his system two days later.

After the very first case was confirmed on May 20, 186 people contracted the potentially deadly virus, with 37 deaths taking place in the country. Most people who died were elderly and had underlying medical conditions like a weak respiratory system, heart and lung diseases, and cancer.

The patient still undergoing examination is the 80th person to have been diagnosed with MERS. The 35-year-old suffers from malignant lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.

"It is hard to determine if patient No. 80 actually has MERS at present...