South Korea on Saturday reported its first case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in three years.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said that a 61-year-old man was diagnosed with the highly contagious viral respiratory disease at about 4 p.m. Saturday.

The man reportedly took a business trip for three weeks in Kuwait and returned to South Korea on Friday afternoon via the United Arab Emirates.

According to the KCDC, the man visited a local hospital during his stay in Kuwait for diarrhea but showed the same symptom again on his way back home. He visited the emergency room of Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport.

Authorities have reportedly traced and separated about 20 people who have come in close contact with the infected person, including medical staff, flight attendants and passengers traveling in the same plane as the man when he returned home.

It is the first case of MERS reported in South Korea since 2015, when an outbreak killed 38 people and triggered wide spread panic.