MERS-infected S.Korean doctor contacts thousands in Seoul

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon speaks at an emergency press briefing in Seoul, June 4, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon told an emergency press briefing that the city government secured the list of 1,565 people, saying that it planned to reach the people one by one overnight and ask them to be put under voluntary quarantine during the latent period of two weeks.

The city government had yet to secure the list of the symposium participants and indentify how many people the doctor had contact with when he wandered across the capital Seoul. The city planned to make public the map of his movement for three days through May 31.

The mayor said that a city government official got to know the MERS-infected doctor's outside activity during the meeting convened by the health ministry on Wednesday night.

The city called on the central government to make public such facts and share information on his outside activity, but the central government failed to respond to the call. So, the city disclosed the facts Thursday night, Park said.

Public distrust deepened over the government's response as one more MERS infection was confirmed after death. An 83-year-old man passed away Wednesday, before he was confirmed positive for the MERS on Thursday night.

He was hospitalized for the asthma and pneumonia at a hospital in Daejeon, a city in central South Korea. He was isolated from May 30 as the man shared a room with another MERS infectee.

It was not the first confirmation case after death. The 57-year-old woman was tested positive for the disease after her death on Monday.