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Asiana passengers, crew quarantined in China after MERS exposure

May 29, 2015
A quarantine official (left) checks people arriving at South Korea's Incheon International Airport for signs of fever. Now the epidemic has spread to China. (Newsis)

A quarantine official (left) checks people arriving at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport for signs of fever. Now the epidemic has spread to China. (Newsis)

Chinese health authorities quarantined 29 passengers and six crewmembers as a safety measure against the recent spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS).

A 44-year-old South Korean man traveled on Asiana Airlines flight OZ723 even after being warned by doctors that he was showing symptoms of the virus.

The Center for Health Protection and the Hospital Authority confirmed that he tested positive for MERS after landing in China.

It was determined that of the 158 passengers, 29 of them — 14 Koreans and 15 Chinese — were in close enough proximity with the man that they would also need to be quarantined.

18 of them have been relocated to a village in Sai Kung for 14 days, but the other 11 are believed to have left the city since then.

As of May 29, 12 cases of MERS have been confirmed in South Korea. Although the virus isn’t particularly contagious, it is considered to have a 40 percent fatality rate.