While initial tests at the State Lab were negative, additional testing is required to confirm or exclude MERS. Since June 2012, the number of MERS cases in the Kingdom has reached 1092 which included 475 deaths, 588 patients recovered from the illness and 29 patients now taking treatment in the hospitals throughout the Kingdom.
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Under World Health Organization regulations, an official end to the MERS outbreak can be made 28 days after the last person diagnosed with the disease tests negative, ministry officials said earlier. He is listed in stable condition.
On August 15 the MOH reported one new Riyadh case, that of a 63-year-old Saudi woman who is hospitalized in stable condition. It will also suspend all surgeries that aren’t urgent, suspend all same-day and short-day surgeries, and set aside special areas to quarantine suspected and isolate confirmed patients, including in the intensive care unit.
As of today, 33 people in Saudi Arabia are being treated for MERS-CoV infections, and 3 are in home isolation.
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The ministry, while announcing the new cases, said 844 samples were tested for coronavirus in its laboratories during the same period, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). One of the infections was fatal, involving a 73-year-old woman who got sick after visiting an ED for an unrelated medical condition. The other case was reported in Abha in a 58-year-old man who has a history of contact with camels and consuming their raw milk. Concerns over spreading the virus to other countries have always surfaced during the past Hajj seasons because its early symptoms are not specific. Five are listed in stable condition, and three are listed as critical.
