Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Saudi MOH Announces 3 MERS Cases & 2 Deaths

https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/default.aspx











#13,273

After more than a week without an update, the Saudi MOH overnight posted 6 days worth of data on their MERS surveillance website, albeit still missing some information.   The list of entries - which skips April 11th - follows:

https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/default.aspx

Curiously, while 4 cases are announced (2 on the 12th, 1 each on the 15th & 16th), when you drill down to the individual reports, only 3 new cases are listed.  The data page for the 16th (at top of this blog), shows no activity. 

We do have two cases reported on the 12th; one from Najran and one from Hufoof.
https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/statistics-2018-04-12-001.aspx


And one case reported on the 15th, from Al Qunfudhah.

https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/statistics-2018-04-15-001.aspx

Additionally, 2 deaths and 2 recoveries are reported over the past week.  Depending upon which graphic you choose to latch onto (English or Arabic page), there are either 6, 7, or 8 active cases under treatment.
The last case line list - published by the World Health organization on Jan 26th - was current only through January 17th.  Meaning we are now 3 months since the last detailed report, although we've seen monthly summaries from EMRO.
While reporting has been choppy for several months now - often posted belatedly and in batches, and sometimes missing data - the good news is we aren't seeing any changes to the pattern of cases. 

With the holy month of Ramadan now less than a month away (May 16th) - which brings with it a surge in international religious pilgrims second only to the Hajj - we'll be watching closely for any signs that this status quo has changed.