UAE’s Proximity to Saudi Arabia
# 8019
Last night Crof over at Crofsblog picked up a story (h/t MERScoV) that reported on a family cluster (a 38 year-old man, his 8 months pregnant wife, and 9 year old child) of MERS infection (Abu Dhabi: Confirmation of the 9-year-old's MERS case) in the UAE. This story built on earlier reports of the couple’s illness, and at least one report suggesting a child was infected as well (see FluTrackers thread).
This morning, the Abu Dhabi Health Authority and UAE Health Ministry websites remain silent on these cases, and most of the Arabic press is still repeating yesterday’s reports of just the couple being infected.
Two new cases of Mers coronavirus diagnosed in Abu Dhabi
Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has announced the diagnosis of two additional cases of coronavirus (Mers- cov) at a hospital in Abu Dhabi.
The affected two patients are Jordanians.The first patient, 38 year old man, was complaining of respiratory symptoms and admitted to the ICU, where he was diagnosed with the disease. His wife was later diagnosed with the same disease. She is pregnant (eight months) and currently admitted to the ICU too.
The Health Authority in Abu Dhabi (HAAD) confirmed that it is coordinating with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and other authorities in the country. The MoH has taken the necessary measures as per the international standards and recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
With much of the Middle East closed down on Friday and Saturday for religious gatherings, news is often slow to emerge late in the week. When more information is published, I’ll either update this post or add a new one.
