CRI听力:S Korean President Convenes Emergency Meeting on MERS

Health officials and civilian specialists are reviewing the health ministry's comprehensive plan to tackle the virus..

As the total number of MERS patients has surged to 30 within two weeks, three cases of tertiary infection have been identified.

Those are cases where the people who have gotten sick had no known direct contact with patient zero.

This has created a great deal of anxiety among citizens in the country.

Park Geun-hye says they must prevent the disease from spreading further.

"In order to prevent MERS from spreading, we must sincerely discuss the measures for a thorough quarantine, and if hospitals and hospital staff have had even minor contact (with MERS patients), we must discuss how to be certain of blocking (the virus) from spreading further. After discussing these matters, we also need to clearly notify the public of the outcome of our discussions."

Hospitals in South Korea have begun setting up temporary quarantine zones within hospitals to stop the further spread of MERS.

So far more than 1,300 people have been quarantined while more than 500 schools and kindergarten have been closed.

Kwon Jun-wook, a senior official with the health ministry, releases the figures:

"After excluding the confirmed patients, there are 398 possibly infected patients and 99 cases are under investigation to determine the patients' status. In regards to the quarantined patients, there are 1,364 cases and this includes 1,261 of those who are quarantined in the facility and 103 quarantined at home. "

The South Korean government has been criticized harshly for what some have called a slow and incompetent response to the spread of the deadly virus.

According to Korea Tourism Organization, as of Monday, about 2,500 Chinese have cancelled travel plans to South Korea, including around 500 from Taiwan.