Saudi Arabia Reports 2 More MERS Deaths

RIYADH (Press TV) – Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry has reported two more deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), amid a United Nations' investigation over the recent surge in the kingdom.

Date: 23 February 2015 - 20:08

News ID: ۱۱۲۹۳

The ministry said on Saturday that some 57 people contracted MERS in the kingdom since the start of February, marking one of the highest monthly rates since the virus first emerged in humans in 2012.
It added that a total of 902 people had contracted MERS in Saudi Arabia, though 490 have recovered.
The MERS virus death toll has risen to 385 in Saudi Arabia, the ministry said.
An international team of UN human and animal health experts recently flew to Saudi Arabia to investigate the surge in MERS cases.
"We are all very aware of this surge in cases,” said spokesperson of the World Health Organization-led team, Fadela Chaib, adding that "we still need to understand more about what is happening.”
The international team – including experts from the WHO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health – met with scientists and doctors.
MERS was first discovered in September 2012 in a Qatari man who had traveled to Saudi Arabia.
The disease, which causes coughing, fever and pneumonia, does not appear to be as contagious as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which infected over 8,000 people and killed about 10 percent of them more than a decade ago.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, which is worst hit by the virus, MERS has been reported in 16 other countries including some Persian Gulf states, France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and Britain.