China said Tuesday that it has advised its citizens who are either in or visiting South Korea to take precautions against MERS as the virus has killed seven people and infected 95 in the country.

Hong Kong and Macau said earlier in the day that they will issue their second-highest travel warnings that prevent their citizens from making unnecessary visits to South Korea.

Asked whether mainland China would follow suit, China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei replied the Chinese ministry and the Chinese embassy in South Korea "have already reminded Chinese citizens planning to visit South Korea or already in South Korea to take precautions."

"The Chinese side has enhanced border protection measures as well as screening measures to properly deal with the epidemic,"

Hong said during a regular press briefing.

A total of 14 South Korean citizens have been quarantined in Hong Kong and China after coming in contact with a 44-year-old South Korean man who flew to Hong Kong on May 26, a day after his father was diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea.

The Korean man, who subsequently went to Guangdong by bus, has been treated under isolation at the Huizhou Municipal Central Hospital in Guangdong.

An official at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing said 10 Korean citizens who had been under quarantine in Hong Kong and Guangdong were discharged from medical facilities there on Tuesday after completing their quarantine periods.

The remaining four Korean citizens who came in contact with the Korean MERS patient in Huizhou are expected to be discharged from hospitals on Wednesday, the embassy official said on the condition of anonymity.

South Korea reported its first MERS case on May 20.

MERS is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus, which causes a fever, cough and shortness of breath, has infected more than 1,100 people and more than 400 people have died from it, WHO said. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the virus. (Yonhap)