Most of the patients fully recovered from Middle East respiratory syndrome were those in their 40s, while most of the deceased were older and had chronic illnesses, statistics by the Health and Welfare Ministry showed Thursday.
The MERS countermeasures headquarters of the ministry said that of the 24 released patients (as of Thursday morning), there were 14 men and 10 women. By age, 12 were in their 40s, followed by four in their 50s, three in their 20s and 2 each in their 60s and 70s. One 30-something patient was also discharged.
Of the 23 that were killed by MERS, 16 were men and seven were women. By age, eight were in their 60s, seven in their 70s, four in their 50s and three in their 80s. Of them, 21 people, or 91 percent, were those that were considered high-risk, due to their age or their records of suffering from other chronic illnesses, the ministry said.
Of the 165 confirmed patients so far, 77 of them were inpatients at hospitals before catching the virus, while 58 were family members and visitors. The other 30 were medical professionals or staff members.
By gender, 100 of the confirmed patients were men, while 65 were women. When broken down by age, 34 were in their 50s, 33 in their 60s, 30 in their 40s, 27 in their 70s and 24 in their 30s.
