South Korea Confirms New Cases Of MERS

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South Korea has confirmed 14 new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus as the economic damage caused by the outbreak begins to grow. In what has become the largest outbreak of MERS outside Saudi Arabia, South Korea reported the new cases on Thursday, including the first infection of a pregnant woman. Read more from Aljazeera:

The new diagnoses brought to 122 the total number of confirmed cases in South Korea, the health ministry said. The number of fatalities rose to 10, with one new death reported on Thursday. More than 2,400 schools have been closed as a result of the outbreak.

Lee Ju-yeol, Bank of Korea governor, said slowing exports and threats to business from MERS were central to the decision to cut its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point, to a record low of 1.5 percent. “It has been seen that this MERS crisis is having a negative impact on consumer spending,” Lee said on Thursday.

“The full impact of the outbreak still remains uncertain but we thought it was desirable to act pre-emptively to curb its negative impact on … the economy.” South Korean businesses, including shopping malls, restaurants and cinemas, have reported a sharp drop in sales as people shun public venues with large crowds.

More than 54,000 foreign travellers have also cancelled planned trips to the country so far this month, according to the Korea Tourism Board.