Health authorities in Huizhou, Guangdong Province on Thursday isolated a South Korean citizen and transferred him to a local hospital, after a report by the World Health Organization said he was suspected of having Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Some 35 people who came into contact with the man were also quarantined. Local authorities said the South Korean man is currently suffering from a fever but has shown no other symptoms.
The 44-year-old man, whose father was infected by the deadly virus, was among 64 people quarantined by South Korean health authorities last week, the South China Morning Post reported.
But the man had violated the quarantine order and disembarked in Hong Kong on Tuesday before heading to Shenzhen for work.
Hong Kong health officials are also preparing to trace around 200 passengers who could have come into contact with the man.
On Thursday, South Korea confirmed its sixth and seventh MERS cases, surpassing Iran as the country with the fifth-highest number of MERS cases in the world, the Korean Herald reported.
MERS was firstly identified in 2012 in Saudi Arabia and has spread to more than 20 countries. People infected with MERS develop severe respiratory illness, including fever, coughs and shortness of breath.
