South Korean President Park Geun-hye postponed a planned June 16 visit to the US after the country Korea reported Sunday its 15th death from the MERS virus.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye postponed a planned June 16 visit to the US after the country Korea reported Sunday its 15th death from the MERS virus as the growing outbreak that has infected 145 forced one of the nation's biggest hospitals to suspend most services.

The health ministry also confirmed Sunday seven new cases of the virus, including four from the Samsung hospital, bringing the total number of infections to 145.

Separately, a paramedic who helped transport a MERS patient to the hospital on June 7 was infected. On Saturday, authorities announced that the ambulance driver also involved in transporting the patient - who died three days later - had also been infected.

One of the other new patients was infected in the central city of Daejeon and another in Hwaseong, about 43 kilometers (27 miles) south of Seoul.

In order to prevent further infections among patients and medical staff, Samsung hospital on Sunday temporarily suspended most of its operations.

It will stop treating outpatients, admitting new patients, or performing surgeries that are not deemed urgent, hospital president Song Jae-Hoon told reporters.

The MERS infections in South Korea have raised to a total of 122 as of Thursday since the first case was found on May 20.

The MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a new type of corona-virus, similar to the SARS virus that killed more than 770 people worldwide following a 2003 outbreak. There is no known vaccine or treatment for the MERS, of which the fatality rate reaches 40.7 percent.