Five more cases of MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) have been confirmed, the Health Ministry said today, bringing the total to 35, of whom two have died. Some 1,300 people have been put under 'quarantine', some in isolation at public hospitals but most "strongly advised" to stay at home. Some 700 schools have closed, which the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases described as "too much of an emotional measure". The World Health Organization said there is "no evidence of sustained transmission", and the head of the Korean Medical Association said people had "overreacted". A preventative medicine expert at Konyang University said that healthy people are not at risk, since their immune systems can cope with the disease.