Health workers disinfect a bus in Seoul, South Korea, on June 15, 2015. The South Korean Health Ministry on Monday reported two more deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), along with five new cases that took the total number of people diagnosed in the country to 150. [Photo: Xinhua]

A 65-year-old MERS patient has died in hospital in Germany, the first death in that country from the MERS virus.

The man is believed to have been infected with the virus during a trip to the Arabian Peninsula in February.

Dr Reinold Gross is the head virologist with the hospital where the patient had been treated.

"The patient who was treated in this clinic had a lot of the virus, which was shown during the tests, but did not infect any of the people who were in close contact with him. That is noteworthy and we have looked into this very closely. Everyone who was in contact with the patient - including family, and people who were involved in his medical care - no one was infected."

The local health ministry tested 200 people and all of them were negative for the virus.

The Czech Republic has reported its first patient suspected of being infected with the MERS virus.

The 25-year-old man is now hospitalized after returning from a hiking trip to South Korea in late May.

The results of the young man's test should be known later this morning.

Meanwhile in South Korea, the number of deaths has climbed to 19 while the number of confirmed cases has surged to 154.