2 new MERS deaths recorded in KSA

Saudi health authorities have reported two new deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the country, raising the overall death toll to 175.

According to AFP, Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry announced on Tuesday a man in the capital Riyadh and a woman in the port city of Jeddah, both in their 70s, were the latest victims of the fatal disease.
The ministry also said the total number of infections in the kingdom is now 540.
The recent fatalities came only days after the World Health Organization (WHO) said the spread of the disease has become more serious, but does not yet constitute a global health emergency.
The WHO also asked governments to make sure the necessary measures were implemented in all healthcare facilities in order to contain the infection.
MERS is a cousin of SARS. The former virus first emerged in the Middle East and was discovered in September 2012 in a Qatari man who had traveled to Saudi Arabia. The virus, which causes coughing, fever and pneumonia, does not appear to be as contagious as SARS, which infected some 8,273 people and killed about 10 percent of them.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, which is hit by the virus the worst, MERS has been reported in 16 other countries including some Persian Gulf states, France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and Britain