Anchor: Authorities have confirmed nine more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea, raising the total number of patients to 50. Of the nine newly confirmed cases, eight contracted the virus at general hospitals in Seoul and its surrounding areas, fanning concerns of the tertiary transmission of the disease.
Our Kim Soyon has more. 
 
Report: The government on Saturday confirmed nine more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea.
 
With the latest additions, the total number of confirmed cases rose to 50. 
 
Among the nine, the Health Ministry said five contracted the virus at a general hospital in Seoul. Among those five, four had been treated in the same emergency room as the 14th MERS case, and the other was a caretaker of a patient.
 
At the general hospital, a total of seven people have contracted the disease, including a medical doctor in his 30s who later attended a public event in Seoul, in which about one-thousand 500 people took part.
 
Among the newly added MERS patients, three came from Saint Mary's Hospital in Pyeongtaek, the facility now known to be the hotbed of the MERS outbreak in the country.
 
Amid concerns of tertiary transmissions, the Health and Welfare Ministry announced the first confirmed recovery from MERS in South Korea, saying a female patient in her 60s was released from the hospital on Friday. 
 
The ministry explained that she recovered to normal temperatures within a week of being hospitalized on May 20 and that a recent series of genetic tests confirmed no MERS coronavirus in her body.
 
The woman, who is the wife of the first South Korean patient, was treated in isolation at a state-designated medical facility for more than two weeks.
 
As of Saturday afternoon, four people have died from the disease in South Korea. On top of the 50 confirmed cases, one-thousand 866 people have been quarantined.
Kim Soyon, KBS World Radio News.