Two Saudi Nationals Die of MERS, Taking Toll to 94

The health ministry has said that two Saudi nationals have died from MERS, taking the death toll from the coronavirus in the worst-hit country to 94.

A 63-year-old woman, who had suffered chronic illness, died of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome on Saturday in the western city of Jeddah, and a 78-year-old man died from the disease in Riyadh, it said.

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As the death toll from the MERS virus hit 85, King Abdullah was in the Saudi Commercial hub in a bid to reassure the worried public of Saudis.

The ministry said the total number of cases diagnosed since the virus first emerged in September 2012 has reached 323, representing the bulk of infections registered globally.

Public concern over the spread of MERS mounted last week after the resignation of at least four doctors at Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital who refused to treat patients for fear of infection.

The World Health Organisation announced Wednesday that it had offered to send international experts to Saudi Arabia to investigate "any evolving risk" associated with the transmission pattern of the virus.

MERS Claims 81 Lives in Saudi
The mounting in cases of infection by the coronavirus in Saudi which sacked its health minister, the death toll reaching 81

MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus which erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

Source-AFP

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Five New MERS Deaths Taking Toll to 92, Reports Saudi
Five new deaths from the MERS coronavirus, taking the country's death toll to 92 have been announced by the Saudi health ministry.