President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday visited a primary school in southern Seoul, which has reopened following the weeklong shutdown over the deadly MERS virus.

The visit is the latest in a series of public activities designed to allay public fears about the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome that has killed 19 South Koreans.

The school had been closed for seven days last week as a precautionary measure against the virus. The school is located near Samsung Medical Center, which has been a major source of infections.

The visit came more than an hour after South Korea reported four new cases of the viral respiratory illness that put the total number of people diagnosed with the disease at 154 -- about half of them infected in Samsung Medical Center.

The hospital, run by the country's largest conglomerate Samsung Group, has voluntarily shut down most of its operations until June 24, at the earliest.

Last week, a joint investigation team of South Korea and World Health Organization recommended that schools be reopened, noting schools have not been linked to any transmission of the viral disease.

Still 475 schools were closed as of Monday, down from 2,622 on June 11.

(Yonhap)