Emirates Airlines withholds list of passengers in possible contact with MERS patient

The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) is having difficulty receiving passenger information on an Emirates Airlines flight that carried a man who was confirmed to have been infected with MERS. The 61-year-old man departed from Kuwait for Incheon with a transfer at Dubai, and later tested positive for MERS after arriving in Korea. The KCDC obtained a list of passengers on the flight from Dubai to Incheon and has been monitoring them, especially those who sat close to the patient. But it has not obtained a list for the flight from Kuwait to Dubai. "The airline does not want to release the passenger list for the first plane as the flight did not land in Korea, citing privacy issues," a KCDC official said. More than 400 people, including passengers on the second plane, came into possible contact with the patient. <br/>