South Korea reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus Wednesday in a 68-year-old man who recently returned from Bahrain after a two-week farming-related business trip.

The country's health officials said the man is now in stable condition after experiencing high fever and cough, adding that he returned to the country on May 4, according to Reuters. 

Kim Young-taek, a director at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the patient's wife who took care of him also showed signs of a minor respiratory symptom and that her test results will be available on Thursday.

"There is no possibility of the disease spreading to ordinary people although it is possible to have additional cases among those who contacted the patient and have been isolated," Kim said.

Coronavirus is the cause of MERS, a virus closely related to the cause of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China in 2003.

There have been 1,118 reported cases of MERS, with 423 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, as reported by Tech Times.

Cases of MERS generally result from hospital transmissions.

MERS was first detected in humans in 2012.