Doha: Qatar’s Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has confirmed a new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) case in the country, the first case reported this year after a gap of more than 10 months, media reported on Monday.

A 71-year-old Qatari has tested positive for the deadly virus, also known as Coronavirus, a Qatari paper reported citing SCH.

This takes the total number of Mers cases in Qatar to 10. Seven Qataris and three expatriates have been infected until now and of them three Qataris and two expatriates have died.

The last Mers case in the country was reported in November 2013.

In the latest case, the victim developed the symptoms when he was on a visit to Saudi Arabia, the report said.