China's first confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) patient is in stable condition as he slowly recovers, the health and family planning commission of Guangdong Province said Tuesday.

 

A man from the Republic of Korea (ROK) tested positive for MERS in Guangdong on 29 May. 

 

The man has had no fever for four days, but still occasionally coughs and his lungs are inflamed, the commission said in a press release.

 

The agency said his condition was returning to stable, but still warned that his condition might change.

 

The man has tested negative for MERS twice, said Deng Longxi, a doctor from the No. 8 People's Hospital in Guangzhou who is in charge of the treatment.

 

The commission said they had quarantined 75 people who had close contact with the man, and all of them tested negative for MERS.

 

Local officials and doctors have also expressed confidence in controlling the virus, citing experience gained from outbreaks of bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

 

SARS was first reported in 2002 in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong. It killed around 800 people in the world. In addition, Guangdong is one of the Chinese provinces that has dealt with the bulk of H7N9 bird flu cases since it emerged in 2013.

 

MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, similar to SARS. The first human case emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, which has a fatality rate of about 40 percent.  

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