By NewsDesk  @bactiman63

In a follow-up report on Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) situation in Saudi Arabia in 2021, on Thursday, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two additional cases in people from Riyadh City.

Middle East Image/W123 via Wikimedia commons

The first patient is a 57-year-old man from Riyadh who had contact with camels and the second patient is a 56-year-old female from Riyadh with no contact with camels.

This brings the country total of MERS cases to seven for 2021.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says MERS-CoV  is a virus transferred to humans from infected dromedary camels. It is a zoonotic virus, meaning it is transmitted between animals and people, and it is contractable through direct or indirect contact with infected animals. MERS-CoV has been identified in dromedaries in several countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. In total, 27 countries have reported cases since 2012, leading to 858 known deaths due to the infection and related complications.

Human-to-human transmission is possible, but only a few such transmissions have been found among family members living in the same household. In health care settings, however, human-to-human transmission appears to be more frequent.