Saudi Arabia has 13 cases of SARS-like coronavirus: WHO
Saudi Arabia has had 13 cases in a recent outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus that has emerged from the Gulf and spread as far as Britain and France, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, and seven of those have died.
Saudi Arabia has reported 23 confirmed cases in total, Qatar two, Jordan two, Britain two and the United Arab Emirates one, the WHO said. Although there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human spread, there are concerns about clusters of cases.
France reported its first case on Wednesday.
The latest Saudi outbreak was restricted to al-Ahsa governorate in Eastern Province and all those infected had pre-existing health conditions, Arab News newspaper quoted Doctor Jafar al-Tawfiq, an infections specialist in Eastern Province, as saying.
Saudi Arabia has had 13 cases in a recent outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus that has emerged from the Gulf and spread as far as Britain and France, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, and seven of those have died.
Saudi Arabia has reported 23 confirmed cases in total, Qatar two, Jordan two, Britain two and the United Arab Emirates one, the WHO said. Although there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human spread, there are concerns about clusters of cases.
Coronavirus: Sars-like virus death reported in UK
A patient infected with a new respiratory illness similar to the deadly Sars virus has died in the UK.
He was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and died on Sunday morning, the hospital has confirmed.
Of the 12 people known to have been infected with the virus around the world, six have died.
The threat to the general population is thought to be small, although the virus has shown signs of spreading in people.
Three members of the same family have been infected with the virus in the UK as well as another patient who was flown in from Qatar for treatment.
France reported its first case on Wednesday.
The latest Saudi outbreak was restricted to al-Ahsa governorate in Eastern Province and all those infected had pre-existing health conditions, Arab News newspaper quoted Doctor Jafar al-Tawfiq, an infections specialist in Eastern Province, as saying.
Mysterious SARS-like coronavirus may have spread human-to-human
British officials say a mysterious virus related to SARS may have spread between humans, as they confirmed the 11th case worldwide of the new coronavirus in a patient they say probably caught it from a family member.
The new virus was first identified last year in the Middle East and the 10 people who have previously been infected had all traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan.
According to Britain’s Health Protection Agency, the latest patient is a U.K. resident with no recent travel to any of those countries but who had close personal contact with an earlier case. The patient may also have been at greater risk of infection due to an underlying medical condition and is currently in intensive care at a Birmingham hospital.
“Although this case provides strong evidence for person-to-person transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still considered to be very low,” John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency, said in a statement. “If (the) novel coronavirus were more infectious, we would have expected to have seen a larger number of cases.”
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Reuters