Amid fears of MERS spreading further... health officials announced that 10 people who came into contact with the first MERS patient tested negative for the virus.<br />But health authorities are continuing to monitor the situation around-the-clock with others still on the watchlist.<br /> Yoon Jung-min reports. <br /> All ten people who were tested after coming into contact with a man recently diagnosed with MERS... have been confirmed free of the virus as of Wednesday.<br /><br />The discharged patients, however, still remain on the quarantine agency's watchlist.<br /><br /> On Tuesday, a passenger from Dubai showed similar symptoms and was quarantined in a medical center on arrival.<br /><br />The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are keeping a close eye on dozens of others who came into contact with the first patient, including passengers, flight attendants and medical workers.<br />Those people have been placed under quarantine at home.<br /><br /> Health authorities were criticized, however, as the original patient was carried to hospital by an ordinary ambulance rather than the one designed to block air circulation.<br />The deadly virus easily spreads through the air and patients require a special facility to prevent contaminated air spreading.<br />The health authorities earlier said they used the special ambulance, but it was later found to be false.<br /><br /> The government is tracking those who contacted the first patient, but the whereabouts of some 30 people still remains unknown.<br /><br />The Seoul Metropolitan government also launched a task force to tackle the virus ahead of the country's major Chuseok holiday later this month.<br /><br /> The original patient was diagnosed with MERS and hospitalized on Saturday after he returned home from a business trip in Kuwait.<br /><br />Korea was hit hard by an outbreak in 2015, which infected more than 180 people nationwide and caused 38 deaths.<br />Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News. <br />
