2015年CRI 中国完成输入性MERS病毒基因测序（在线收听）

The sequencing has been accomplished by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in cooperation with the health department of Guangdong Province, where the case was reported on May 29th 2015.

The genome map of the virus shows high homology with the strand of the MERS virus detected in the Middle East.

Scientists believe the strain originated in Saudi Arabia.

The result of the sequencing has been uploaded to GenBank at National Center for Biotechnology Information in the United States.

The patient from South Korea who has tested positive for MERS is still being treated at Huizhou Municipal Central Hospital in Guangdong.

By testing and comparing genome sequence of different strains, scientists believe they may find effective measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

Over in South Korea, the government is now offering up apologies amid the continued spread of MERS across the country.

South Korean Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo admits the administration 'dropped the ball' when the virus was first confirmed in the country.

"Despite the government's endeavors to block the infection after the first confirmed MERS case on May 20, the number of MERS patients is growing. I am truly sorry for the current situation in which the number of MERS patients is increasing at a rapid pace due to our belated track down and isolation of the first confirmed patient and thus our inability to block in-hospital infection early."

South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited the National Medical Centre in Seoul on Friday.

This is where MERS patients are being hospitalized.

Park has met medical workers who wore personal protected equipment in front of State-designated quarantine wards.

Park says the government promises to do everything it can to end the outbreak.

"People should trust that the government is trying its best with civilian experts to prevent the spread of disease in every possible way."

Four people have now died from the virus in South Korea.

41 others have been confirmed infected.

Among the 5 new cases reported this Friday include an officer at Osan Air Base near Seoul, which is home to both South Korean and US troops.

Over 80 soldiers at the base have reportedly been quarantined.

They join the over 16-hundred others in South Korea who are under quarantine amid the spread of MERS.

Officials have shut down 11-hundred schools across the country.

MERS is a corona virus similar to SARS.

It has a mortality rate of around 40-percent.