EARLY EDITION 18:00 MERS patient contracts virus outside ER

• ARIRANG NEWS 18:00 • Title: MERS patient contracts virus outside ER MERS cases are still on the rise. Fourteen new patients were confirmed today, bringing the tally to 122. No additional deaths have been reported, but more than 38-hundred people are in quarantine. For more, we connect to our Connie Kim at the news center. Connie take us through these new cases. Well, eight of the new infections came from Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul, where the 55 of the MERS patients picked up the virus. Most of them contracted the virus through the hospital′s emergency room, but one case stands out. A woman in her 70s was in the hospital for knee surgery. She never visited the ER, so health officials are questioning how she acquired the virus. There′s another transmission that′s under scrutiny a police officer who had tested negative and is now a confirmed case. Last month the officer met a friend twice who had visited Saudi Arabia. After developing MERS symptoms, the officer visited a hospital in Pyeongtaek. A confirmed MERS patient had already visited that hospital as well. The officer tested positive for MERS and was transferred to Seoul Medical Center,... but tested negative there and was discharged and quarantined at home. After developing pneumonia symptoms the officer went to Asan Chungmu hospital and was moved to Cheonan Dankook hospital on Tuesday after his symptoms deteriorated. Officials there ran two tests to confirm that the officer is indeed MERS positive. To recap, the patient visited a total of four hospitals Health officials say it′s most likely he contracted the virus from the first hospital,... but they are looking into the possibly of an airborne transmission. Authorities are also investigating conflicting MERS test results,... which also appeared in the case of the pregnant woman at Samsung Medical Center. What new steps has the government taken to clamp down on the spread of the virus? Today, officials announced plans to keep a number of hospitals MERS free and able to serve the general public. They plan to announce details on Friday, but the strategy is meant to allow the public to go to hospitals without fears of contracting the virus,... and also to ensure suspected MERS patients will no longer be declined by hospitals. As of now there are 16 hospitals designated to treat MERS patients only. Back to you. Title: Parliamentary MERS committee blasts gov′t countermeasures A bipartisan parliamentary committee tasked with tackling the MERS outbreak held its first meeting with government officials and medical experts on Thursday. Our Ji Myung-kil has more. The special committee blasted government officials for being ill prepared for the outbreak. "After the Ministry of Public Safety and Security was created following the Sewol-ho ferry accident, nothing has been done to prepare for disease outbreaks,... like recruiting special medical experts or buying equipment."