On Monday, another patient succumbed to the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome in South Korea, raising the death toll to 16. As of date, 150 people have been diagnosed with MERS, and 17 of them are said to be ‘unstable’.

Meanwhile the virus continues to spread, despite stringent measures to impede its transmission. Authorities have quarantined over 5200 people. Officials say this number may rise in the future.

The World Health Organisation has decided to hold emergency talks on Tuesday to address the outbreak. Addressing the worries that the virus in the Republic of Korea might have mutated to increase its ability to spread, WHO revealed that genome sequencing revealed no such change.

Schools across South Korea are set to reopen this week after having been closed down earlier this month to combat the virus. Over 440 schools will remain closed.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Park Geun-hye urges industries to continue business as usual to combat the stall in the country’s economy.

The source of the outbreak has been traced back to a 68-year old man who returned from a trip to the Middle East on May 20.