Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s health ministry said that four more patients who became infected with a Middle East virus related to Sars have died, and that 36 others have contracted the virus, including a pilgrim in Makkah.
The ministry said that the new cases from the Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) coronavirus were reported in Riyadh, as well as in the western city of Jeddah and the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
The deaths bring to 85 the number of people who have died in the kingdom since contracting the virus in September 2012.
The kingdom has recorded a total of 297 confirmed cases.
A 65-year-old Turkish pilgrim is among six new cases reported in Makkah, where millions of Muslims from around the world descend year-round.
The ministry said the youngest cases from the newest batch of infections are two 13-year olds, one in Madinah and another in Jeddah.
In one other case, a 25-year-old Saudi male is being treated in Jordan. King Abdullah made a trip to Jeddah Thursday to reassure the Saudi public and the international community ahead of the Umrah season.
The Red Sea city has seen a spate of cases among health staff in recent weeks that have sparked fears that the virus has mutated to make it more transmissible from person to person.
Public concern has been fuelled by the reported resignation last week of four doctors at Jeddah’s King Fahd Hospital.
False rumours
Top officials has insisted there was no cause for public alarm. National Guard Minister Prince Mitab said his father King Abdullah was in Jeddah “to reassure the public and to prove that the exaggerated and false rumours about coronavirus are not true.”
“The Mers situation is reassuring and it has not reached the level of an epidemic,” he told students in Jeddah, according to Saudi media.
