The Health and Welfare Ministry will select high-risk people among those who had close contact with confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) patients and place them in quarantine.
 
The ministry announced the measure during a news briefing about the disease in Seoul on Sunday.
 
The ministry said that quarantine patients will be monitored for 14 days for medical observation.
 
The government also promised proper support measures to help people who will suffer damage to their business due to the quarantine measures.
 
Among people who came into close contact with MERS patients, those subject to quarantine include people aged over 50 and/or those with chronic diseases such as diabetics, heart and kidney diseases.
 
The ministry expects that about 35 percent of people who came into close contact with MERS patients will be placed under quarantine at two facilities starting on Sunday.
 
Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo said that the government will exert an all-out effort to prevent the spread of the disease through tertiary transmission.