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Al-Hassa:
Saudi Arabia said five more people have died of a deadly new virus
from the same family as SARS, and two other people were in
intensive care.
The seven cases were discovered in al-Ahsa governorate in the
Eastern Province, the Saudi news agency SPA quoted the Saudi
Health Ministry as saying in a statement late on Wednesday.
A Saudi man died in March from the
virus. The novel coronavirus (NCoV) is from the same family of
viruses as those that cause common colds and the one that caused
the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
that first emerged in Asia in 2003.
The new virus is not the same as
SARS, but similar to it and also to other coronaviruses found in
bats. It was unknown in humans until it emerged in the Middle East
last year. There have been confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia, Jordan
and Britain.
Research by scientists in Europe has
found that NCoV is well adapted to infecting humans and may be
treatable with medicines similar to the ones used for SARS, which
killed a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected.
In a March 26 update on its website
the World Health Organization (WHO) said it had been informed of a
global total of 17 confirmed cases of human infection with NCoV,
including 11 deaths.
The Geneva-based WHO said it was
monitoring the situation closely and urged its member states to
continue surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections and
to carefully review any unusual patterns.
“WHO is currently working with
international experts and countries where cases have been reported
to assess the situation and review recommendations for
surveillance and monitoring,” it said, adding that national
authorities should “promptly assess and notify” it of any new NCoV
cases.
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