NewsDesk @bactiman63

The Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has reported four locally-acquired laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) through October 31 this year.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus
MERS-CoV
Image/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

The cases were reported from Riyadh (two cases), Gassim (one case), and Makka Al Mukarramah (one case) regions.

No deaths were reported.

According to the World Health Organization, all the cases were non-health-care workers, who presented with fever, cough, and shortness of breath, and had comorbidities. Three of the cases had a history of contact with dromedary camels and consumption of their raw milk in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. Three of the cases were male and the overall age range is 23 to 74-year-old.

Since the first report of MERS-CoV in 2012, a total of 2600 cases with 935 associated deaths have been reported from 27 countries, in all six WHO regions– Countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula that have reported MERS cases: Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen. Countries outside of the Arabian Peninsula with travel-associated MERS cases: Algeria, Austria, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), and United States of America (USA).

The majority of MERS-CoV cases (n=2193; 84%) resulting in 854 deaths, have been reported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.