<span id="midArticle_start"/>* Four new cases reported; fewest in 11 days; total at 126
<span id="midArticle_0"/>* Death of patient with MERS is 11th in South Korea
<span id="midArticle_1"/>* Number of people in quarantine declines for first time (Adds graphics)
<span id="midArticle_2"/>By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim
<span id="midArticle_3"/>SEOUL, June 12 (Reuters) - South Korea has sealed off twohospitals that treated people with a deadly respiratory disease,officials said, even as the outbreak that has been spreadingthrough health facilities could have peaked, with just four newcases on Friday.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has infected 126 people inSouth Korea and killed 11 since it was first diagnosed just overthree weeks ago in a businessman who had returned from a trip tothe Middle East.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>The outbreak is the largest outside Saudi Arabia, where thedisease was first identified in humans in 2012, and has stirredfears in Asia of a repeat of a 2002-03 scare when Severe AcuteRespiratory Syndrome (SARS) killed about 800 people worldwide.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>The 68-year-old man who brought the virus back from theMiddle East visited several health centres for treatment of anagging cough and fever before he was diagnosed, leaving a trailof infection in his wake.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>The danger of the virus in hospitals had led to two beingsealed off with at least 133 people - patients and staff -inside. They would be sealed for at least the next 11 days,given the incubation period of the virus, officials said.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>"No patients can get out of their rooms," said a citygovernment official in the capital, Seoul, where one of thehospitals is located, declining to be identified.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>"Nurses in protective gear are giving them food. No one canget in from outside."
<span id="midArticle_10"/>All but one of South Korea's cases have been confirmed asoriginating with the businessman, who was diagnosed with MERS onMay 20, and occurring in health-care centres, and the last oneis likely to be confirmed as such too, the health ministry said.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>
<span id="midArticle_12"/>WORST OVER?
<span id="midArticle_13"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as theone that caused SARS. It is more deadly than SARS but does notspread as easily, at least for now. There is no cure or vaccine.
<span id="midArticle_14"/>World Health Organisation (WHO) experts are in South Koreaworking with the government and Saudi Arabian health officialsare meeting authorities on Friday.
<span id="midArticle_15"/>The four new cases reported on Friday marked the lowestdaily increase in 11 days, raising hope the worst might be over.
<span id="midArticle_0"/>"The signs are beginning to look promising," Stephen Morse,a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University MedicalCenter in New York, told Reuters. "I'm hopeful it's beginning todecline, but there are still patients."
<span id="midArticle_1"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>The number of people in quarantine, either at home or inmedical facilities, also declined for the first time, by 125 to3,680, the ministry said.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>The incubation period for many people exposed to infectedpatients is ending, which should mean a decline in new cases,said Jacob Lee, an infectious disease expert at Kangnam SacredHeart Hospital in Seoul.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>"There may be a third wave from hospitals that MERS patientshad stayed at but it won't spread as much as it has," Lee said.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>The central bank cut interest rates on Thursday in the hopeof softening the blow to an economy already beset by slackdemand and plunging visitor arrivals.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Alarm has spread throughout the region even though only onecase has been reported outside South Korea in this outbreak,that of a South Korean man who travelled to China via Hong Kongafter defying a suggestion from health authorities that he stayin voluntary quarantine at home.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned President ParkGeun-hye, who has postponed a visit to Washington to manage theoutbreak, to say he was prepared to lend all support to helpfight the disease, her office said.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>South Korea's new cases bring the total number of MERS casesglobally to 1,275, based on WHO data, with at least 450 relateddeaths.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>(Editing by Robert Birsel)
<span id="midArticle_9"/>
<span id="midArticle_0"/>* Death of patient with MERS is 11th in South Korea
<span id="midArticle_1"/>* Number of people in quarantine declines for first time (Adds graphics)
<span id="midArticle_2"/>By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim
<span id="midArticle_3"/>SEOUL, June 12 (Reuters) - South Korea has sealed off twohospitals that treated people with a deadly respiratory disease,officials said, even as the outbreak that has been spreadingthrough health facilities could have peaked, with just four newcases on Friday.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has infected 126 people inSouth Korea and killed 11 since it was first diagnosed just overthree weeks ago in a businessman who had returned from a trip tothe Middle East.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>The outbreak is the largest outside Saudi Arabia, where thedisease was first identified in humans in 2012, and has stirredfears in Asia of a repeat of a 2002-03 scare when Severe AcuteRespiratory Syndrome (SARS) killed about 800 people worldwide.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>The 68-year-old man who brought the virus back from theMiddle East visited several health centres for treatment of anagging cough and fever before he was diagnosed, leaving a trailof infection in his wake.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>The danger of the virus in hospitals had led to two beingsealed off with at least 133 people - patients and staff -inside. They would be sealed for at least the next 11 days,given the incubation period of the virus, officials said.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>"No patients can get out of their rooms," said a citygovernment official in the capital, Seoul, where one of thehospitals is located, declining to be identified.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>"Nurses in protective gear are giving them food. No one canget in from outside."
<span id="midArticle_10"/>All but one of South Korea's cases have been confirmed asoriginating with the businessman, who was diagnosed with MERS onMay 20, and occurring in health-care centres, and the last oneis likely to be confirmed as such too, the health ministry said.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>
<span id="midArticle_12"/>WORST OVER?
<span id="midArticle_13"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as theone that caused SARS. It is more deadly than SARS but does notspread as easily, at least for now. There is no cure or vaccine.
<span id="midArticle_14"/>World Health Organisation (WHO) experts are in South Koreaworking with the government and Saudi Arabian health officialsare meeting authorities on Friday.
<span id="midArticle_15"/>The four new cases reported on Friday marked the lowestdaily increase in 11 days, raising hope the worst might be over.
<span id="midArticle_0"/>"The signs are beginning to look promising," Stephen Morse,a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University MedicalCenter in New York, told Reuters. "I'm hopeful it's beginning todecline, but there are still patients."
<span id="midArticle_1"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>The number of people in quarantine, either at home or inmedical facilities, also declined for the first time, by 125 to3,680, the ministry said.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>The incubation period for many people exposed to infectedpatients is ending, which should mean a decline in new cases,said Jacob Lee, an infectious disease expert at Kangnam SacredHeart Hospital in Seoul.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>"There may be a third wave from hospitals that MERS patientshad stayed at but it won't spread as much as it has," Lee said.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>The central bank cut interest rates on Thursday in the hopeof softening the blow to an economy already beset by slackdemand and plunging visitor arrivals.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Alarm has spread throughout the region even though only onecase has been reported outside South Korea in this outbreak,that of a South Korean man who travelled to China via Hong Kongafter defying a suggestion from health authorities that he stayin voluntary quarantine at home.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned President ParkGeun-hye, who has postponed a visit to Washington to manage theoutbreak, to say he was prepared to lend all support to helpfight the disease, her office said.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>South Korea's new cases bring the total number of MERS casesglobally to 1,275, based on WHO data, with at least 450 relateddeaths.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>(Editing by Robert Birsel)
<span id="midArticle_9"/>
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