Saudi Arabia reports 11 new cases of MERS virus, first in Makkah

ABU DHABI: Saudi Arabia said it had discovered 11 more cases of the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), including what appeared to be the first case in Makkah.
A health ministry statement said eight of the people were in intensive care, two were stable, including a 24-year-old Saudi man from the "holy capital" Makkah, and one showed no symptoms.
Three of those affected worked in health care, it said.
Of Wednesday's 11 new cases, four were recorded in Riyadh, six in Jeddah and one in Makkah, the statement said.
The latest cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in the Kingdom to 272, of whom 81 have died.
MERS emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and is from the same family as the SARS virus, which killed around 800 people worldwide after first appearing in China in 2002.
MERS can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia.
Although the worldwide number of MERS infections is fairly small, the more than 40 percent death rate among confirmed cases and the spread of the virus beyond the Middle East is keeping scientists and public health officials on alert.
Labour Minister Adel Fakieh, who has been appointed as acting health minister, said he had just returned from a visit to the King Fahd hospital in Jeddah where a number of coronavirus patients are being treated.
Fakieh said he was pleased that a number of patients, including doctors, were recovering but said that there were a few critical cases still receiving medical care.