2 refuse to go into quarantine as 47 having contacts with China's first MERS patient

People who came into close contact with the South Korean MERS patient arrive at Lady MacLehose Holiday Village in Sai Kung, where they will spend two weeks in quarantine, in Hong Kong, May 30, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a new type of corona virus, similar to that which causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS. The first case was identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, which has a fatality rate of 40.7 percent.

The World Health Organization has reported more than 1,000 cases of MERS globally and more than 400 deaths.

2 Koreans refuse to go into MERS quarantine

Two Korean nationals having close contact with the 44-year-old South Korean MERS patient are refusing to go into quarantine, said Health Secretary Ko Wing-man.

Hong Kong's health authorities have made plans for the 18 plane passengers who sat close to the MERS patient to go into quarantine for two weeks at the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village in Sai Kung. But two of them are refusing to be tested and isolated, Ko said, adding that authorities can only contact them by phone.

As the incubation period of the disease could be more than ten days, the two could spread the deadly virus, Ko added.

He said the Immigration Department is tracking them down, and the government could force them to be quarantined using Hong Kong laws. More