The Same Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) yet Different Outbreak Patterns and Public Health Impacts on the Far East Expert Opinion from the Rapid Response Team of the Republic of Korea

After close cooperation between the government, RRT, and hospitals for 6 weeks, Korea succeeded in maintaining hospital safety concerning MERS-CoV infections as of Aug 23, 2015. A critical need for increased coordination, data sharing, and timely analysis of information for MERS-CoV existed throughout this outbreak [8] . In addition, the need for clarity and collaboration between scientific, clinical, and public health communities was recognized [12] . The RRT represented an example of a positive partnership role model between public health sectors and academic professionals. The outbreak appeared to be reaching controlled levels, with a significant decrease in the number of new cases (Fig. 1) . Fortunately, there were no new SSEs that could result in a third epidemic peak. Vigilant monitoring will be crucial to end the MERS-CoV outbreak. The RRT hopes to share their MERS-CoV outbreak-related knowledge with other countries and cooperate to prevent the MERS-CoV outbreak from becoming a global pandemic.