Hong Kong upgraded to "serious" on Monday its response to an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea, where the number of cases jumped and fears grew about the economic impact of the disease.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the progress of MERS, which has been spreading in South Korea since last month when a businessman brought it home from a Middle East trip, had to be halted, a day after authorities began using mobile phones to trace people who violate quarantine.