South Korea’s health minister has apologized for the “concern and anxiety” created in the country due to the government’s failure to correctly assess the contagiousness of the MERS virus.

Moon Hyung-pyo said Sunday that the government’s “initial assessment on the contagiousness of MERS was erroneous,” and now “we apologize for causing concern and anxiety among people.”

Moon assured the South Korean public that the hospital where the first MERS patient was traced is now closed and patients are being treated in quarantine for the time being.

However, the minister declined from giving details such as the name or location of the hospital for fear of panic.

Moon urged the public not to panic and stay calm, vowing to make full amendments by exerting “utmost efforts” to curb the disease.

The number of people infected by the virus so far in South Korea has reached 15.

The source of the outbreak has been identified as a 68-year-old man, diagnosed with MERS on May 20, who had been on a visit to Saudi Arabia.

The 14 others to acquire the disease are all people including patients, visitors and hospital staff at the same hospital where the first patient had been diagnosed.

In addition, a total of 129 people who were exposed directly or indirectly to the patients, have also been quarantined or put under special surveillance.

Meanwhile, authorities in Hong Kong have quarantined 18 fellow passengers of another South Korean man infected with the MERS virus upon arrival.

The virus has been seen in more than 20 countries with most cases in Saudi Arabia, where more than 400 people have been killed since 2012.

MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, can cause symptoms ranging from flu-like aches and pains to pneumonia and kidney failure.

MERS is considered to be deadlier, but less infectious, than SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds of people in Asia in 2003.

XLS/HSN