# 10,035
With the recent shuffling at the head of the Saudi MOH, and a corresponding dramatic drop in the reporting of MERS cases out of that nation, there’s been some speculation that perhaps surveillance and reporting might be lagging over the past couple of weeks.
After five weeks (April 1st-May 6th) with only 11 cases reported, we’ve seen 12 new cases announced (see Saturday’s Saudi MOH Reports 3 MERS Cases) over the past three days.
Since onset dates are left out of these reports we have no way of knowing exactly how `old’ any of these cases are, but 4 cases are listed as a `family contact’ of a previous case in Hufof – presumably the case reported on May 5th – although another case was reported from Hufof on April 20th. So either (or perhaps both) are a possibility.
Meanwhile, there is a nosocomial transmission reported in Taif, and 4 more cases in Riyadh. It will be very interesting to see what the parameters are of the apparent cluster in Hufof when the WHO published their report.
Hopefully this is the MOH playing catch up, and not a sign of a new surge in cases.
