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                        South Korea PM: MERS Threat Over

   by VOA News

   South Korea has declared an effective end to the threat from the MERS
   outbreak, which killed 36 people and hurt Seoul's already slowing
   economy.

   Since being discovered in May, the outbreak of the Middle East
   Respiratory Syndrome infected 186 people and forced more than 16,000
   others into quarantine.

   No new cases have been reported for the past 23 days, according to
   Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who spoke following a government meeting
   Tuesday.

   "The last suspected patient was released from quarantine yesterday. It
   is the assessment of the government and the medical community that the
   public can rest easy," he said.

   The outbreak rattled the country, prompting thousands of schools to
   shut down and keeping many at home in fear of becoming infected.

   The crisis was partly blamed for the performance of South Korea's
   economy, which in the second quarter grew at its slowest pace in six
   years.

   There is no vaccine or cure for the disease, which was brought to South
   Korea by a 68-year-old businessman who had traveled to Saudi Arabia and
   surrounding countries.

   MERS, a coronavirus, is related to the one that infected thousands
   during the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
   MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has spread to
   several other countries.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/south-korea-pm-mers-threat-over/28811
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/south-korea-pm-mers-threat-over/2881160.html