Saudi MOH Reports 4 More MERS Cases

# 10,421

 

After reporting only one additional case yesterday, the Saudi MOH is back today with 4 more MERS cases, 3 in hard-hit Riyadh and one in Najran.  Few details other than location, age and gender are provided. Additionally, 1 death and 1 recovery are reported.

 

Since the 3rd of August, Saudi Arabia has reported 39 MERS cases, with 3 dozen of those from Riyadh alone.  Cases in the capital city have been attributed to a large familial cluster, a large number of nosocomial cases, a couple with recent camel exposure, and the rest are either unknown or unspecified.

The Saudi MOH has also published their weekly MERS report, that unfortunately – beyond acknowledging 21 new  cases over the past 7 days – provides very little regarding the epidemiology of this recent surge in cases.

 

MOH: ‘21 MERS-CoV Cases Reported Last Week’

16 August 2015

In its weekly press release, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that 20 confirmed cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported in Riyadh and another case in Abha last week, from August 9th to 15th, 2015, corresponding to Shawwal 24th to 30th, 1436H (the 33rd International Week).

“During the same period, 844 samples were tested for Coronavirus at the MOH laboratories across the Kingdom, including 5 cases at the MOH hospitals and 16 other cases at the other health sectors. While the total number of visits by public health teams to persons in contact with positive cases was 21,” indicated the Ministry, adding that the number of persons who were in contact with positive cases at homes was 119, and the number of visits by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) was one.

Besides, the Ministry announced that 588 cases out of the total of 1,092 confirmed cases have been cured, at a rate of 54.8%. There are 25 other cases still receiving treatment, and four cases have been isolated at home.

Within the same vein, the Command and Control Center (CCC) keeps on its efforts around the clock by carrying out epidemiological surveillance tasks, making sure that all governmental and private health facilities abide by infection control measures, as well as coordinating with the relevant governmental sectors, international health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), and think-tanks to follow up all developments regarding Coronavirus. Over and above, the Ministry keeps on its efforts and full coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), to launch anti-Coronavirus awareness campaigns at the gathering places of camels to urge camels’ owners and shepherds to be careful and take protective measures when dealing with camels. Finally, the MOH highlighted that it will remain committed to the preset preparations and cooperative efforts with other parties, including the Saudi community and healthcare staff, who represent the cornerstone in this regard.