The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it will expand the number of languages on its MERS hotline (109) to 19. The hotline was designed to provide official information about the epidemic for non-Korean speakers residing in Korea or elsewhere.

The ministry began running the hotline in English on June 12 and expanded its services to 19 languages starting at 5 p.m. on June 15. The information about MERS will be provided through an agreement with the Immigration Contact Center (1345), under the Ministry of Justice. Mandarin and Japanese services, expected to be used by a relatively larger number of users, will be provided starting at 9 a.m. on June 18.

The ministry will also offer MERS-related government information in English in its Press Release section at the government's new official website for the outbreak, www.mers.go.kr.

Korea.net, official multi-language website of the Korean government

* The 19 languages are Vietnamese, Thai, Mongolian, Indonesian, French, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Nepali, Cambodian, Burmese, German, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, Tamil, English, Mandarin and Japanese.

Guide for the MERS hotline; just dial 109

◇ English, Japanese and Mandarin

o When you dial 109, you will hear a greeting in Korean saying that, "This is the MERS hotline at the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention." It will continue to say that for English, Mandarin and Japanese, press 1, and that for other languages, please hang up and dial 1345. When you press 1, you will hear again, "For English, press 1, for Mandarin, press 2, and for Japanese, press 3." Then you will be connected to an interpreter speaking the language of your choice.

◇ Other languages

o Please dial 1345. The Immigration Contact Center will provide interpretation services for you and a consultant at the MERS center.