South Korea MERS Virus Outbreak 2015 Updates: Death Toll Rises, Thousands Quarantined

South Korean authorities are worried because panic is fast spreading in the country as the death toll and number of patients with MERS continue to rise, CNN reports.

As of press time, statistics revealed that seven people in South Korea have already succumbed to death after acquiring the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERSCoV), while 95 cases have been confirmed after eight more were reported to have contracted the virus.

What's more worrisome is that MERS continues to spread by the hour with 2,500 people already placed under isolation either in hospitals or in their own homes.

This, however, was not the only thing that leaves the South Korean government anxious as one official revealed to CNN that panic is spreading much faster than the outbreak itself.

According to Gyeonggi province Governor Nam Kyung-pil, their country is currently engaging in two battles: "war against the disease and war against fear."

As proof, Hong Kong officials already announced that the Chinese territory would place a red-alert on non-essential travel to South Korea and nearly 2,200 schools, including 19 universities, have declared that "school's out" because of the epidemic.

A red alert, according to Reuters citing the Hong Kong government, means that there is "significant threat" to citizens who plan to travel to the country amid the outbreak.

However, the World Health Organization has yet to declare any curb on trips to South Korea as they join forces with health experts from the country in reviewing their response to the epidemic and identifying how the virus spreads.

Reuters and CNN noted that the outbreak of MERS in South Korea is the second largest after Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, where the virus originated.

The wife of a MERS patient revealed through the Wall Street Journal how the illness begins with a simple cold which even doctors suspected to be a minor ailment despite seeing additional symptoms like fever and coughing fits.

After three weeks, the South Korean man and his family found out that he has MERS and that he is considered one of the first of the 95 confirmed cases in the country.

The latest death, says the Ministry of Health and Welfare as cited by WSJ, happened a few minutes past 9 p.m. on June 8. It was 68-year-old woman who reportedly had severe heart problems before she caught the disease.

Health officials believe that the outbreak could have been prevented if the diagnosis of the first patient which came nine days after he sought medical attention had been earlier.

"I think the spread of MERS could have ended much earlier if we had reacted more thoroughly early on. I feel very sorry about that," Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo said.