South Korea has declared it is effectively out of danger from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), more than two months after the first case was reported and began spreading.
The outbreak grew to become the largest outside Saudi Arabia, killing 26 people, infecting 186, and at its peak putting nearly 17,000 in quarantine.
It was traced to a man who returned from a business trip to the Middle East in May.
“It is the assessment of the government and the medical community that the public can rest easy,” prime minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said at a government public health meeting.
No new cases have been reported since July 4, while health experts say the virus has an incubation period of about two weeks.
Mr Hwang added that although it was early to declare the outbreak completely over, he urged the public to return to normal daily life.
Twelve people remain hospitalised in South Korea and under treatment for MERS, although only one is still testing positive for the MERS virus, the Health Ministry said.
The outbreak dealt a major blow to an already weakened economy, knocking second-quarter growth to its worst in more than six years as it closed thousands of schools, kept consumers at home, and scared foreign tourists into cancelling trips.
Schools have since reopened and shoppers are back in the stores, but officials are keen to repair lingering damage.
Mr Hwang said that the government would implement reforms to fix health care shortcomings exposed during the outbreak, although he did not specify what steps it would take.
The MERS infection is linked to the same family of corona viruses that triggered a deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003.
Twenty-six countries have reported MERS cases since it was first reported in 2012.
AFP/Reuters