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Over 10,000 quarantined already in S. Korean MERS outbreak

June 17, 2015

A man helps a patient to wear a mask as a precaution against the possible MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, virus in front of a facility to examine temporarily quarantined people who could be infected with the MERS virus at Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul, South Korea Monday, June 1, 2015. More than 680 people in South Korea are isolated after having contact with patients infected with the virus that has killed hundreds of people in the Middle East, health officials said Monday.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

The number of quarantine orders in the midst of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak has shot up past 10,400 in South Korea as of Wednesday.

Although the country’s health officials have stated that the spreading of the virus has passed its peak, approximately 900 quarantine orders are still issued daily.

6,508 of those people are in a full quarantine meaning that they have been fully isolated from others while they wait for the incubation period to pass. 3,951 of them have been released.

South Korea has been under fire recently as its efforts to contain the virus have yielded 20 deaths with 162 confirmed cases.

The cause of the rapid spread has been traced back to a number of hospitals who did not take the proper precautions to restrict close contact with those who have been infected.

Other countries such as China and Germany have reported victims infected by the MERS virus, but have so far been successful in containing the disease.