Hyundai Motors ask employers to avoid Middle East travel

Amidst growing fears of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), South Korean car manufacturing company, Hyundai has asked its employees to avoid travelling to the Middle East.

This is according to Reuters which also reports that Samsung Electronics said it was screening employees twice a day in South Korea for fever, and would refrain from large-scale events.

A provincial official said 58 schools and kindergartens in Gyeonggi province, home to the hospital where the first death occurred were shut for the week.

Also, some tour agencies have started seeing overseas groups cancelling trips to South Korea, with the Korea Tourism Organization reporting about 2,500 cancellations by Monday.

Furthermore, shares in Hanatour Services Inc and Modetour Network Inc, South Korea's two biggest travel agencies, closed down 8.87 percent and 8.51 percent, respectively.

MERS which was first identified in humans in 2012 has no cure and vaccine and has a 38% death rate, according to theWorld Health Organisation (WHO).