Staff at a hospital in China have drawn lots on who will treat China’s first reported case of Mers.

The man, who is a relative of somebody known to be infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (Mers), had neglected advice not to travel before presenting with symptoms in China.

According to the hospital, located in the southern city of Huizhou, the ballot was arranged as there were too many volunteers to treat the South Korean man.

However, posts that have since appeared on social media have suggested that the ballot took place because many were reluctant to provide care.

Doctors in South Korea had advised the man not to travel after his father had contracted the illness and there were fears that he had been in close contact with him.

The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards Show all 6 1 /6 The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards Linda Dixon, 60, leads research into African swine fever at the Pirbright Institute in Surrey "For more than 25 years I've been trying to develop a vaccine for the African swine fever virus, which causes death in domestic pigs, and has symptoms quite like Ebola. It came from East Africa in the 1920s and was transmitted to Georgia in 2007 via food from shipping that was fed to pigs. It has now spread to neighbouring countries and this year entered the EU via Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It's difficult to eliminate because it also infects wild boar, which populate large parts of Europe." David Vintiner The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards Simon Woodmore, 45, is a paramedic and operations officer for London Ambulance Service's Hazardous Area Response Team (Hart) "I have a helmet for all occasions – five in all – as well as an array of outfits, including breathing apparatus and gas-tight suits, respirators and chemical protective suits. My job is to put paramedics where historically they could not have worked. We were born out of the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995, and have been running as Hart since 2006. There are 94 of us in London dealing with chemical, biological and radiological incidents, as well as building collapses and floods." David Vintiner The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards Simon Woodmore, paramedic and operations officer "We've always dealt with contagious diseases and work with the Royal Free Hospital London high-level isolation unit to transfer confirmed cases, which fortunately is rare. A lot of it is communicating with the patient in a caring and compassionate way, which can be difficult when you're in full gear. There is an increased awareness of Ebola, but it's about reinforcing the processes we already have in place. Any personal risk is mitigated by our training and equipment." David Vintiner The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards Benjamin Black, 33, is a specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) "In June I travelled to Sierra Leone, where one in 21 women of reproductive age dies in childbirth. This was my first mission, and the reason I got into medicine. I had my eyes wide open to Ebola; though it was still in its early days and concentrated across the border in Guinea, within days I had my first suspected Ebola cases in maternity. It was happening." David Vintiner The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards Benjamin Black, Médecins Sans Frontières "You need a healthy amount of fear to be safe, as well as protocol and organisational back-up. The greatest fear then is how long you can keep getting it right. There is also a huge psychological element. I checked my temperature daily, but in a hot, humid country there's a constant feverish feeling anyway. We had scares and one of our national nurses was infected, probably in the community. He sadly died and it had a huge impact on the team." David Vintiner The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards Lisa Jameson, 29, is a National Institute for Health Research doctoral research fellow for Public Health England, based at the Porton Down facility in Wiltshire. She specialises in emerging viruses "I was in the field watching patients come into the isolation centre next to us, often with their families. Sometimes they'd be walking and talkative, then die that night. It was tough but we were so busy, and being there made it feel like we were making a difference. When I got home after a month, I felt a sense of guilt that I was able to walk away. I'll almost certainly be going back." David Vintiner

The development is the latest in South Korea’s recent outbreak of Mers, in which 24 cases have been reported since last month. So far, two people have died from the virus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that the disease has a 27 per cent death rate in those infected, although of the reported deaths, all have had previous underlying medical conditions.

Health Officials in South Korea have said that about 750 people have now been isolated in their homes, or in state-run facilities after coming into contact with infected patients.

In a statement, South Korean Health Officials said that a 58-year-old woman who died of acute respiratory failure on Monday showed she had been infected with the disease before her death.