SEOUL, June 4  -- The number of South Koreans diagnosed with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) rose to 35 Thursday as five more cases were identified, the health ministry said.

Among the five new cases were three persons directly infected from the patient zero, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The three infectees included a 25-year-old medical staff who had contact with the first patient for three days from May 15 as well as two men aged 47 and 54 who visited the hospital where the patient zero was hospitalized for the three-day period.

The other two were infected from the 14th and 16th patients, who had been infected from the first patient. The tertiary infection totaled five as the two new cases were added.

The two tertiary contagions included a male doctor in his 30s who contacted with the 14th patient on May 27. A 69-year-old man had contact with the 16th patient for three days from May 28.

Local news channel YTN reported that one more death was found for the MERS infection, but the health ministry had yet to confirm it. The ministry is set to hold a press briefing at 11:30 a.m. ( 0230 GMT).

The 83-year-old man was tested negative for the viral disease Tuesday, but he was confirmed positive Wednesday. The final test result had yet to come from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

He was hospitalized for chronic kidney failure at a hospital in Daejeon, a city in the center of South Korea. He was isolated from May 30 as the man shared a room with another MERS infectee.

Two people already died of the viral disease on Monday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a chief master sergeant in the Osan Air Base was confirmed positive for the MERS at the first test. The final result had yet to come from the CDC.

About 100 soldiers in the air base, where South Korean and U.S. troops are stationed together, have been isolated, the YTN reported.

The MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a new type of corona-virus that is similar to the one causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, with its fatality rate reaching 40.7 percent.

The first case was spotted in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The World Health Organization has reported more than 1,000 cases of MERS globally and more than 400 deaths.