Okaz/Saudi Gazette

Jeddah — The Ministry of Health reported on Sunday three new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) caused by coronavirus.

The first case was reported in the city of Rumah in Riyadh where a 38-year-old man contracted the disease. In Buraidah, Qassim area, 62-year-old person showed MERS symptoms. The third case was reported in Riyadh where a 34-year-old person was infected with the disease which causes acute respiratory illness with fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

The ministry said that all patients are under treatment.

Last week, the ministry recorded two new MERS-CoV cases, both connected to camel exposure, according to an update.

A 44-year-old man from Riyadh and a 64-year-old man from Hofuf were both diagnosed as having MERS-CoV and are hospitalized for their infections. Both cases are described as primary and linked to camel contact.

Camel contact, both direct and indirect, is one of the known risk factors for MERS transmission.

The new infections appear to have raised total MERS cases to 2,254 globally since 2012, including 798 deaths.

On September 3, 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a single confirmed case of MERS CoV in a male resident who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia. He sought medical care at a hospital in Leeds, where he was put into isolation and was transferred to the care of infectious disease specialists in Liverpool.

Following this report comes a confirmed case of MERS in a South Korean man, marking the first case of MERS in South Korea since July 2015.