South Korea reported its first Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) death in more than a week today, a news report said.

Eight days had passed without a Mers-related death, and the latest fatality raises the country’s total death toll from the disease to 34, Yonhap News Agency reported.

There have been 186 people in South Korea diagnosed with Mers, although no new infections were reported in the last three days, the report said.

The rate of infection in South Korea has slowed considerably since the first outbreak there was reported on May 20.

The number of people still hospitalised has gone down to 33, while the number in isolation is just over 800, compared to several thousand at its peak last month, Yonhap reported.

South Korea has experienced the worst outbreak of the virus since an outbreak in the Middle East, where it was first identified in 2012.

- dpa