3 new MERS-CoV deaths raises total in KSA to 377

Two more Saudis and an expatriate have died of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, raising the total number of deaths from MERS-CoV in the Kingdom to 377, the Ministry of Health said late Wednesday.
The victims, all male, included a 54-year-old in Buraidah, a 65-year-old in Tabuk, and a 60-year-old expat worker in Riyadh, said an update on the MOH website.
All the victims had pre-existing diseases, said the report prepared by the MOH Command and Control Center.
The MOH said two previous reported MERS cases, both males in Dhahran, have recovered.
One new case, a 58-year-old Saudi who is in critical condition, was also found in the eastern city of Alkhobar, the report said.
The latest case brings to 897 the total number of confirmed MERS infections in Saudi Arabia since the coronavirus was first detected in June 2012.
Of the total infected patients, 486 have fully recovered.
The World Health Organization (WHO) placed the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection at 983 as of Feb. 16, 2015, including at least 360 related deaths, lower than the total deaths in Saudi Arabia alone.
Aside from Saudi Arabia, MERS cases have also been confirmed in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Malaysia, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Oman, Algeria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Austria, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Many of the cases were somehow linked to Saudi Arabia.
MERS-CoV, which can cause symptoms including fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure, is related to SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003.
Scientists have said early cases of MERS-CoV infections may have been transmitted to humans from camels and spread between people. Among those infected were hospital workers.