PRIME TIME NEWS 22:00 New MERS cases diagnosed in unmonitored patients

PRIME TIME NEWS 22:00 With Korea′s MERS outbreak being the largest outside Saudi Arabia,... President Park Geun-hye pledges to set up a new control system to deal with infectious diseases. Amid signs of thawing relations between Korea and Japan,... the two neighboring countries are expected to boost cooperation in defense fields. And a top UN human rights official meets with Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during Japan′s colonial rule... and promises efforts to resolve their plight. Stay tuned... for these stories and more. Hello... and welcome to Prime Time News... on this Wednesday June 24th. I′m Hwang Ji-hye. And I′m Daniel Choy. Thanks for tuning in. Title: New MERS cases diagnosed in unmonitored patients We begin with the MERS situation in Korea,... with the number of infected now at 179. Let′s go straight to Kim Ji-yeon, who joins us at the news center. Ji-yeon, we are seeing fewer numbers of confirmed cases everday... but health authorities are now saying it′s too early to say the worst is over. Where does the outbreak stand at this point? Well... the situation now... suggests the outbreak is at a crossroads... . Four new cases were confirmed earlier today and among them are patients who were not under quarantine orders or home isolation,... raising concerns that there may be more cases that are still under the radar. One of these new cases involves a 51-year-old who had apparently been in the same hospital ward as patient 76,... who died from the disease earlier this month. Because of this,... Konkuk University Medical Center in Seoul has decided not to receive any more patients for the time being. The Seoul Metropolitan Government is also taking steps to get a handle on containing the virus. "We′re expecting more than one-thousand to be placed in home isolation. In initial monitoring, thirteen people said they were experiencing symptoms." As for the Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul... it has decided to extend its partial shutdown… after another patient there was confirmed with MERS. The hospital, considered as an epicenter of the virus, has not taken any new patients for nearly two weeks now. The MERS response team in the city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do Province,... is also strengthening its monitoring systems... after a confirmed patient who was not placed under quarantine or home isolation... was found to have been out in public... for six days... after showing symptoms. The province says it′s also installing more than 14 thermal cameras in major subway stations and elementary schools. Despite this, many local experts and health authorities have been saying the virus is on the decline. What seems to be the reasoning behind this view? Well,... not only are they pointing to the fewer number of cases that are emerging daily... but also the growing number of patients that are being cleared of the virus and discharged from hospitals. These two factors have somewhat calmed