CRI听力:South Korea Gov't Apologizes for MERS Outbreak

The South Korean government is now offering up apologies amid the continued spread of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, across the country.

South Korean Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo admits the administration 'dropped the ball' when the virus was first confirmed in the country.

"Despite the government's endeavour to block the infection after the first confirmed MERS case on May 20, the number of MERS patients is growing. I am truly sorry for the current situation in which the number of MERS patients is increasing at a rapid pace due to our belated track down and isolation of the first confirmed patient and thus our inability to block in-hospital infection early."

Four people have now died from the virus in South Korea.

41 others have been confirmed as infected.

Among 5 new cases reported this Friday include an officer at Osan Air Base near Seoul, which is home to both South Korean and US troops.

Around 60 soldiers at the base have been quarantined.

They join the over 16-hundred others in South Korea who are under quarantine amid the spread of MERS.

Officials have shut down 11-hundred schools across the country.

MERS is a corona virus similar to SARS.

It has a mortality rate of around 40-percent.