The South Korean business traveler who has been quarantined in China over his possible Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) infection has tested positive for the disease.

Seoul's Health and Welfare Ministry said Friday that Chinese authorities conducted a genetic test on the 44-year-old South Korean citizen to confirm that he contracted MERS.

It marks the first MERS diagnosis in China.

The man is said to have stayed in the same room as the first South Korean MERS patient for around four hours on May 16 while providing care for his elderly father who was later diagnosed with MERS.

Controversy is expected to mount as health authorities had excluded the man from those subject to quarantine.

The man was found to have gone to work for eight days from last Tuesday before departing for China.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) is placing in quarantine 28 people in Korea who had close contact with the man on the flight to China to block the further spread of the infectious disease. The center is also trying to identify who had close contact with the man at his workplace.  

With the latest count and two additional confirmations of MERS infection confirmed earlier on Friday, the number of confirmed South Korean MERS patients rose to ten.

The South Korean health authorities said it is closely monitoring 120 suspected MERS cases.

Authorities have also said that medical staff who fail to immediately report MERS-related developments and people who refuse to be examined for the disease will be subject to stern measures.