South Korea on Thursday confirmed 14 new cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome, including a 39-year-old pregnant woman and a 35-year-old policeman. 

A total of eight were infected at Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul -- now the nation’s most severely hit hospital with 55 patients -- while another caught the virus in Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, the Health Ministry’s MERS special response team said.

Authorities, however, have yet to determine where five of the patients contracted the virus, raising questions about their ability to keep track and ultimately contain the outbreak.

Of particular concern was a male policeman who was actually released after he tested negative for MERS on June 3. He was readmitted on June 5 after his conditions worsened, and a re-test on Tuesday finally confirmed that he had the disease.

His case raises the possibility of the MERS being exposed to the general public depending on when he caught the virus. As of now, all infections are thought to have occurred within hospital walls, according to the government.

To date, nine people have died in Korea from MERS. The disease is known to more severely affect those in poor health.

South Korea has the second-highest number of MERS cases in the world at 122, second only to Saudi Arabia, where the disease was first reported in 2012. As of Wednesday night, 183 were quarantined at medical facilities as potential patients while 3,389 more were isolated in their homes.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)