Alarm grows as S Korea reports third Mers death

Seoul

SOUTH Korea on Thursday confirmed that a man who died a day earlier had been infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), the third fatality in a virus outbreak that has fuelled growing alarm in the country.

The 82-year-old South Korean, in hospital with asthma and bacterial pneumonia, had shared a room with others infected with Mers and died on Wednesday night, the health ministry said in a statement.

The victim became the 36th confirmed Mers infection in South Korea, which has the most cases outside the Middle East. More than 1…