medical worker wearing protective suits is seen at a private clinic in Tsing Yi, the New Territories of south China's Hong Kong, June 10, 2015..(Photo: Xinhua)

　　Experts with the World Health Organization mission have downplayed concerns that the MERS outbreak in South Korea will spread outside the country, as transmission so far has occurred only among hospital patients, visiting family members, and medical staff.

　　Two health experts made the remark in Hong Kong after they joined the WHO mission and studied the MERS outbreak in South Korea.

　　Virologist Malik Peiris says so far there is no evidence suggesting the virus will spread out of the country.

　　"It is too earlier to say whether this is going to be a sustained effect or not, so the next week will be very crucial. Given that situation, I think, if things go well, the risk of this spilling over out of Korea in a significant way is small."

　　Peiris adds there is no evidence the virus is changing in a way that will make it spread more easily and more quickly between people.

　　"Now, we don't see evidence that the virus is changing to become more transmissible than what it has been, so what we have to primarily deal with is, have a high level of alert for all people presenting with fever or respiratory disease or pneumonia in Hong Kong with a travel history and keep in mind not just from South Korea, because we know that there are also cases in the Middle East."

　　David Hui, a professor of respiratory medicine, says multiple factors contributed to the outbreak of MERS in South Korea, such as over-crowded wards, lack of knowledge about the disease, and bad information exchange between hospitals. But the risk of a community outbreak is very low.

　　"The possibility of a community outbreak is very low because the current cases are all related to medical facilities in the hospitals. The first outbreak was in hospitals, so the chance of a community outbreak is very low, so far we haven't seen the virus mutating to increase the chance of a community outbreak."

　　In light of the situation in South Korea, Chinese airlines are cutting flights to the country.

　　Air China has cut the number of flights between Beijing and Seoul to 21 a week from 24.