GUANGZHOU, June 26 -- China's first confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) patient was discharged from hospital and returned to the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Friday, the health and family planning commission of Guangdong Province said.

The 44-year-old Korean man tested positive for MERS in Guangdong on May 29.

The man has had no fever for more than 10 days, and has tested negative for MERS twice.

The man had visited a MERS patient at an ROK hospital and expressed discomfort as early as May 21. Despite a doctor recommending that he cancel his travel plans, he flew to Hong Kong on May 26 and entered Huizhou City via Shenzhen.

MERS is a respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus. The first human case emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease, which has a fatality rate of about 40 percent.