South Korea has reported 14 more cases of MERS and 1 more death. As far as I can tell, the government has little control of the situation.
Now the pattern of cases looks like Fibonacci...

Fibonacci- 5, 8, 13
South Korea- 5, 9, 14
I estimate that on Sunday night there will be about 15-20 cases reported
Source- Dailymail

As you can see, the numbers shoot way up from there.

I keep finding the Early Edition news in S. Korea to be quite informative.  To give you an idea of how large and fast this outbreak could be in the next few days, as we heard the virus was spread at the hospital through the Air Conditioning system, and they're asking anyone who has visited that hospital from May 15 - May 29th to report it to officials.  That's a lot of people in the community that could be infected right now by simply visiting the hospital.  It was also found on door knobs.  In addition, they have also quarantined an entire town.   Could see a very large explosion of cases in the next few days.  If they soon report dozens of "suspected" cases, stick a fork in it.

...and call it done.
The numbers after the weekend will be significant as the incubation period ends for the cases the quarantine was supposed to contain. More cases showing up into next week and it means they never had it under control.

Another development that I found interesting is when they discovered the virus on a doorknob.   3 years ago we discussed that quite a bit, in terms of a coronavirus ability to survive in the environment outside the the human host (on general surfaces), and what impact the temperature would also have on the virus.  Of course I would always say we were in big trouble if the MERS virus ever found a cold climate, which it never did. 

I find it to be a significant development after a few years now, that they discovered it on a doorknob in the hospital.  That means that you don't have to be near a patient to get it.  The temperature in a hospital setting is also usually a little cooler.  Therefore, the difference in the climate and temperature does in fact have an impact on the situation.  For MERS to survive on surfaces like that is bad news.   When it spreads in the community and inside a home or places like a hotel (SARS had a huge outbreak at a hotel in the past), it will be similar to what we see inside a hospital.  And when the temperatures drop in the winter, it will survive on surfaces outside of homes, hospitals, hotels, etc....  

Because of all of this, MERS may be unstoppable now that it has left the hot climate in the middle east, and they should start working on a vaccine asap before winter. 

I personally believe we're going to have another SARS-like event very soon, the difference being that MERS is a lot more robust and won't burnout in the summer, like SARS did when summer arrived. 

Here is more about what I'm talking about:

Effects of air temperature and relative humidity on coronavirus survival on surfaces.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Casanova%20LM%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=20228108 - Casanova LM, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Jeon%20S%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=20228108 - Jeon S, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Rutala%20WA%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=20228108 - Rutala WA, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Weber%20DJ%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=20228108 - Weber DJ, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Sobsey%20MD%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=20228108 - Sobsey MD.

Abstract

Assessment of the risks posed by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV) on surfaces requires data on survival of this virus on environmental surfaces and on how survival is affected by environmental variables, such as air temperature (AT) and relative humidity (RH). The use of surrogate viruses has the potential to overcome the challenges of working with SARS-CoV and to increase the available data on coronavirus survival on surfaces. Two potential surrogates were evaluated in this study; transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) were used to determine effects of AT and RH on the survival of coronaviruses on stainless steel. At 4 degrees C, infectious virus persisted for as long as 28 days, and the lowest level of inactivation occurred at 20% RH. Inactivation was more rapid at 20 degrees C than at 4 degrees C at all humidity levels; the viruses persisted for 5 to 28 days, and the slowest inactivation occurred at low RH. Both viruses were inactivated more rapidly at 40 degrees C than at 20 degrees C. The relationship between inactivation and RH was not monotonic, and there was greater survival or a greater protective effect at low RH (20%) and high RH (80%) than at moderate RH (50%). There was also evidence of an interaction between AT and RH. The results show that when high numbers of viruses are deposited, TGEV and MHV may survive for days on surfaces at ATs and RHs typical of indoor environments. TGEV and MHV could serve as conservative surrogates for modeling exposure, the risk of transmission, and control measures for pathogenic enveloped viruses, such as SARS-CoV and influenza virus, on health care surfaces.

  

More details:

Town quarantined in South Korea as Hong Kong expert blasts WHO on Mers response
South Korea reported its fifth death from MERS and number of infections rose to 64
ELIZABETH CHEUNG , DANNY LEE AND ANDREW SALMON IN SEOUL
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 07 June, 2015, 1:46am
UPDATED : Sunday, 07 June, 2015, 2:32pm

Police outside a village that was quarantined in South Korea's Mers outbreak. Photo: SMP Pictures
An entire town has been quarantined in South Korea in a fresh scare over Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), as the World Health Organisation comes under renewed criticism from a leading Hong Kong infectious diseases expert.

The number of infections rose to 64 after 14 new cases, including one death, of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) were confirmed last night, the country's health ministry said.

With public health and infection protection experts due to arrive in Seoul today and tomorrow to discuss ways to control the outbreak, Dr Ho Pak-leung, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the WHO's response to the Mers crisis in South Korea showed it was not fit to "tackle emergencies."

In a test for the South Korean government and WHO's ability to resolve the crisis, Ji-hye, a town in the southwestern county of Sunchang, was placed under the control of health authorities and put under quarantine on Friday.

A 72-year-old woman who tested positive for the virus in South Korea ignored an order to stay at home in isolation and travelled into the town, where she is believed to have come into contact with more than 100 people.

The incident raised fresh questions over Seoul and the WHO's handling of the outbreak.

"WHO is not positioned for tackling emergencies, but rather promulgating macro measures," Ho said.

It relied on individual countries to report outbreaks, meaning it can't respond until it had possession of that information, he said. Also, WHO experts travel to the affected area from all over the world, as opposed to local response teams that Ho said would better understand the situation.

Ho described the organisation's response as weak in comparison to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic in the city 12 years ago. "Hong Kong has been handling the incident rather well," Ho said, as the city's Centre for Health Protection has taken enhanced precautionary measures, such as mandatory quarantines for people with respiratory symptoms.

"Quarantine and contact tracing are all effective [measures] in Hong Kong now," he said.

The United Nations global public health body last Wednesday urged Hongkongers who come into contact with infected patients to isolate and monitor themselves. But it recommended no mandatory quarantine.

Some 3,000 people are now quarantined across South Korea as the police consider forced detention to help overcome the virus. On Saturday, nine more new Mers cases emerged, raising the total infected to 50, including one citizen who exported the outbreak to mainland China through Hong Kong.

Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man said South Korea was sharing some case information, but urged the government to be fully transparent.

He said if the number of third-generation cases kept growing in South Korea, the risk of an outbreak in the community would increase. So far, most cases have come from hospital infections.

Ko said he would pay close attention to the incident, and would not exclude the possibility of urging people to avoid travel to South Korea in future.

With the WHO-led delegation expected to start work in Seoul for a week, Ho said he expected further measures would follow after the experts had done their investigative work in Seoul.

Ho said the global health watchdog lacks enforcement strength. "Regulations of the WHO [on quarantine] are rather vague," he said, as the interpretation of the regulations depends on each country's understanding of infection control.

He cited the case of an American nurse, who ignored a quarantine order last October when she returned to the United States from the Ebola-hit Sierra Leone, as an example of the WHO's less stringent stance on quarantine. The nurse, who showed no symptoms but was asked to stay in isolation, said the order violated her human rights.

Meanwhile, the WHO maintains no "special procedures" for travel restrictions into South Korea. The United Arab Emirates became the first country to warn its citizens not to travel there.

Complicating the current outbreak is the fact Mers - which has neither a vaccine nor a cure - features such common flu-like symptoms as fever, coughing, shortage of breath and sometimes nausea, diarrhoea and or vomiting. Moreover, its exact transmission mechanism is unknown, though it is believed to spread by coughing.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1817810/town-quarantined-south-korea-hong-kong-expert-blasts-who-mers

Hi Albert, 24 hospitals %$%&#@! WTF   6 hospitals with confirmed cases!! Alarm bells! Alarm bells!

When and if they quarantine the US military bases in SK, then you know it's out of control in SK.

Makes sense

A treatment for respiratory diseases and conditions is the use of Nebulizers which aresolize the medication into the lungs. The problem is as this does help the ability to breathe when the patient exhales the virus is then also aresolized. All ventilation in respiratory disease and in those parts of hospitals that treat respiratory disease should have separate HVAC units. No one in cardiac ICU or a baby in a NICU need to be exposed via the HVAC system aresolized virus. I believe that many hospitals do this, but I also know that many hospitals do not even have separate wings or floors for respiratory disease. In a pandemic I would use a hotel as a make shift hospital that had all individual HVAC units, more comfort for patients, and less ability to spread. IMO just guessing

Albert wrote: jacksdad wrote: And they have 7-Elevens over there? Big time.  We couldn't expect them to deal with MERS without a morning Big Gulp.

When I was in Japan, 7-eleven was literally all over the place. Tasted better too haha. They even had popcorn chicken in a USA cup. #merica lol