Thailand public minister Rajata Rajatanavin confirmed the first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or known as MERS, in the country on Thursday. The confirmation came after when a man had been confirmed as positive in MERS.

The Thai public minster refused to give the name of a man who happened to be positive in MERS. According to the investigation, he and his family came from Oman.

Like Us on Facebook

The man was diagnosed with MERS on Monday. Dr. Rajatanavin told reporters, "The private hospital has already been on alert about (MERS) so the staff had isolated the patient and three of his family members from the start."

The three family members of the infected man who came along with him are now being quarantined. Aside from them, The Wallstreet reports there are 59 people quarantined in Thailand who believed had contact with the man, including two taxi drivers, hotel and medical staff.

Thai health officials contacted also passengers who were seated near him. The infected man was treated in a private hospital in Bangkok on Thursday-his condition that time was stable.

Meanwhile in South Korea, CNN reports MERS still continues claiming some lives of infected patients. On Friday, health officials of the country confirmed there are 166 dead people due to the disease.

Minister of Health and Welfare who leads MERS task force, Deok-cheol, told reporters on Friday that the disease leveled off.

"Looking at the currently trend, we have judged that situation has leveled off," said Kwon.

"But as I've mentioned earlier, we need to watch for further spread," he added.

The latest patient who died due to the disease was a 70-year-old man. Thirty of those afflicted have recovered, while 112 among them are currently under the treatment.

There are 5,930  people under quarantine. 5,161 among them are under house quarantine, while 769 are quarantined in facilities.

TagsMERS, thailand mers, korea mers, south korea MERS, south korea MERS update