RIYADH: Saudi Arabia reported Thursday four deaths and six new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The current surging number of cases is the largest since the peak of the last MERS outbreak in the summer of 2014.
Health authorities shut down the emergency ward in one of the capital Riyadh’s largest hospitals last week, after at least 46 people, including hospital staff, contracted the disease.
MERS is viral respiratory infection that causes fever, coughs and breathing difficulties. It is caused by a coronavirus and is considered more deadly but less contagious than its cousin Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which spread globally in 2002 at an eventual cost of more than 8,000 lives.
