Mohammed Dawood

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Health said Tuesday that there had been no new deaths or infections of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) reported in the past 24 hours.



Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Saeed, the ministry's undersecretary for public health, said only 11 patients who tested positive for Coronavirus are currently under treatment at government hospitals in various regions of the country.



He said since the virus was first discovered in the Kingdom in September 2012, a total of 976 people were infected of whom 541 have recovered, 424 died and 11 are still under treatment.



The undersecretary said a medical task force has been established to supervise the work of the ministry's command and control centers in various parts of the Kingdom.



He also said Dr. Mahmoud Bin Khorshid Khoja, of the Jeddah Command and Control Center, was appointed head of the task force.



Dr. Saeed said the task force will inspect all command and control centers to ensure that they are applying all ministerial measures to prevent the spread of the virus.