PRIME TIME NEWS 22:00 MERS outbreak: 3 more deaths, over 5,500 in quarantine

• PRIME TIME NEWS 22:00 • In Korea′s ongoing battle against the MERS outbreak... the government plans to inject more than 45 million U.S. dollars toward efforts to eliminate the virus. In Washington... Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se signs a revised civilian nuclear energy pact... and meets with U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice to discuss the possible rescheduling of President Park Geun-hye′s visit to the U.S. And... Some experts warn the Korean government needs to establish long-term measures to counter what could be the worst drought the country has seen in over a century. These stories and more up next. Hello and welcome to Prime Time News... on this Tuesday June 16th. I′m Daniel Choy. And I′m Hwang Ji-hye, thanks for tuning in. Title: MERS outbreak: 3 more deaths, over 5,500 in quarantine MERS cases continue to rise. Four more infections were confirmed along with three related deaths pushing up total figures. For more we go over to our Connie Kim at the news center. Connie, what do we know about these fresh cases. Guys, three of these new MERS patients had contracted the virus while visiting the Samsung Medical Center, a major source of many infections and one of the hospitals that announced a partial shutdown down on Sunday. These new cases are especially concerning because the patients had not been regulated by health authorities or Samsung Medical Center, which opens the door for possibly more infections. One of them also happens to be the first MERS patient confirmed in Daegu, so health officials are tightly monitoring all the people the patient had contact with in order to stop the disease from potentially spreading nationwide. As of now, seven regions have been affected by the virus. And so far, a total of six people have been infected from tertiary patients, something the government has been worried about. Looking into the additional deaths added today,... it′s interesting to note... two cases came from MERS patients who did not have a pre-existing medical problem. This is raising eyebrows because most of the deaths up until now... have been with those who were already sick or the elderly. Also the first death was reported in a patient in the 40s age group. Now... the death toll could rise higher as 16 are reported to be in critical condition. Meanwhile, 55-hundred are still under quarantine. In an effort to contain the virus, the government has formed task force teams at 13 hospitals with MERS patients or that have been affected by the virus. There is some good news though... Three people have fully recovered and were released from hospital today. And we hear the government is planning to funnel more money into the fight against the disease. Tell us more about that. Well, just today,... the government pledged 45-point-two million U.S. dollars in reserve funds to contain the disease. It will mostly be used to buy critical medical materials and equipment... and to support medical