By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea was facing an even bigger battle against its ongoing Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak Saturday, with a jump in infections and deaths despite the relative optimism of a day earlier.
12 new cases - three times as many as Friday morning - were announced, bumping the overall tally to 138 patients.
The health ministry also confirmed the passing of a 67-year-old woman, who had other health issues, bringing the country's death toll to 14.
South Korea was only hit with the relatively new illness for the first time last month when a man returned from the Middle East - the global MERS epicenter.
Like SARS more than a decade ago, this strain of coronavirus is a particular threat to the elderly and infirm.
The local media was raising alarm over the possibility of a wider spread than previously feared.
Among the latest people to be infected was an ambulance driver who became South Korea's first so-called fourth-generation case - meaning even more people could potentially pass on the MERS virus.
After leading a World Health Organization investigation of the unfolding situation, Keiji Fukuda told local reporters Saturday that the country should brace itself for more cases.
The WHO's assistant director-general of health security descibed the outbreak as "large and complex."
Attention was being placed on a 7-year-old boy, suspected but not yet confirmed as having MERS - even though children are apparently not at heightened risk of contracting the disease.
The atmosphere certainly had turned from a day earlier, when Seoul's education office announced an end to its forced closure of selected schools.
