#7263
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health’s twitter feed (@ksahealth) this morning (7am-8am EDT) carried the following messages regarding today’s MOH briefing on the novel coronavirus.
While the total number of cases they are reporting remains steady at 24 and now show a total of 15 fatalities. Furthermore, while lacking in details, the 8th tweet down suggests there are 3 suspected cases in Dammam.
Caveat: What follows are machine translations. Use with caution.
# Minister of Health during the press conference which was held in # Health Ministry _ # Corona virus
# _ Health Ministry the #-infected cases Corona of Shawwal 1433 AH 24 cases 15 deaths
# _ Health Ministry invited experts from Canada and the United States for all actions carried out by the ministry including ذالك visit hospitals # Coruna
# Symptoms: high temperature, cough and severe pneumonia of both lungs # Ministry of Health _ # Coruna
# _ Department of Health most cases that hit # Corona virus have chronic diseases
#_ Ministry of Health mode of transmission of the virus # Coruna now unknown # _ Health Ministry
# _ Health Ministry should follow the general guidelines and careful personal hygiene and disinfection of hands constantly to prevent virus # Coruna
# _ Health Ministry was recorded cases of the disease in Riyadh and Jeddah and 3 suspected cases in Dammam # Coruna
# Corona did not record the World Health Organization (WHO) any injury to children, but mostly for adults and older suffer from chronic diseases
Meanwhile, we’ve this account of the press conference from murasel.org that provides little in the way of details, but would appear to back up the tweet regarding three new suspected cases.
Saudi Arabia: suspected cases of the virus "SK"
Saudi Health Minister Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-rabeeah said authorities suspected the existence of three cases of corona virus.
He said at a press conference with officials from the World Health Organization, the delegation had been recorded 24 cases of the virus so far since September/EUL.
He explained that the authorities count on awareness, so that maybe there are cases not reach hospitals.
Meanwhile, an official in the delegation who would not repel an investigation but came to see it applied in all States where there were concerns a infested disease calls for concerted international efforts.
And finally, while not a huge revelation, we’ve this Reuters report featuring remarks made by World Health Organization Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda in Saudi Arabia today.
Fukuda confirms what has been strongly suspected for several months, that this novel coronavirus is capable of limited human-to-human transmission – but so far - there is no evidence that the virus can maintain "generalized transmission in communities.”
New virus can probably pass person to person: WHO
RIYADH | Sun May 12, 2013 7:43am EDT
(Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday it appeared likely that the novel coronavirus, which has killed 18 people in the Middle East and Europe, could be passed between people in close contact.
<SNIP>
But he added: "Of most concern ... is the fact that the different clusters seen in multiple countries ... increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact, this novel coronavirus can transmit from person to person."
