MERS monitoring ordered after camels test positive for virus

RIYADH: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has directed its command and control center to monitor the developments regarding the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
The command and control center is headed by Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Said, also an undersecretary at the Health Ministry.
A few days back the MOH reported the detection of two new cases of the virus. One involved a 58-year-old in Jeddah and an 85-year-old in Al-Muznab.
The MOH issued the directive during a meeting to follow the latest developments on the current situation of the MERS-CoV virus in the Kingdom.
The MOH also warned the public to take extra precautions and not totally rely on published reports that the number of MERS-CoV cases has decreased in the past few months.
It added that the decrease in MERS-CoV cases is misleading and gives the wrong to the medical staff that there’ll be no other outbreaks in the future.
It urged the public to exercise caution in buying camels from the market for various purposes such as for racing or beauty purposes. Some people buy camels to adorn and display it.
The MOH warning came after the Agriculture Ministry’s confirmation of the existence of the MERS-CoV virus in camels based on examinations it conducted recently. A report quoted the Agriculture Ministry which examined the respiratory secretions of 20 camels in Jeddah recently and found that 11 of them were positive for the virus.
The ministry also conducted the same examination in Bisha in Asir province and it also found another case of a camel being positive for the MERS-CoV virus.
The disease was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to several countries that include the United States.