Photo Credit WHO
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After a week with no new cases reported in Saudi Arabia, yesterday the World Health Organization posted an update showing the KSA MOH had informed them of two new infections.
This morning, I see that the Arabic MOH coronavirus site has updated their graphic to show 65 cases, a jump of three since July 2nd (see KSA Announces Two More MERS-CoV Deaths).
The graphic on the English site remains unchanged, and I can find no information on any of these two (or three) new cases on the MOH site.
The recent shift to a Friday/Saturday weekend in Saudi Arabia (see Saudi Gazette article Weekend switch a tough nut for many) may be contributing to the inconsistent updates to the KSA MOH site.
Here is yesterday’s WHO update:
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - update
5 July 2013 - The Ministry of Health (MoH) in Saudi Arabia has announced two additional laboratory-confirmed cases and two deaths in previously confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in Saudi Arabia.
The new cases are a 69 year-old male and a 66 year-old male from Riyadh. Both were admitted to hospital on the 28 June 2013 and are currently in critical condition in an intensive care unit.
In addition, the two deaths in previously confirmed cases are a 63 year-old female from Riyadh and a 75 year-old male from Al Ahsa.
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 79 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 42 deaths.
Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all Member States to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns.
