Three dead as Mers cases soar in Saudi Arabia ahead of haj pilgrimage
Mers coronavirus infections have soared in Saudi Arabia ahead of the haj pilgrimage, forcing the closure of a major hospital's emergency ward in Riyadh and killing three people, officials said.
The said yesterday authorities shut the emergency ward at the King Abdulaziz Medical City, one of the capital's largest hospitals, "after at least 46 people, including hospital staff" contracted the Middle East respiratory syndrome.
The health ministry has said it registered 21 confirmed Mers infections, all except one of them in Riyadh, between August 9 and 15.
There was no immediate explanation for the difference in the figures.
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Health Minister Khalid al-Falih said the hospital "has faced a spread of the coronavirus during the past few weeks, which started as one case."
However, in remarks carried by the official SPA news agency, he gave reassurances that the cases were "still limited."
He urged "vigilance when contacting people with respiratory illnesses" and preventive measures when visiting patients.
The latest deaths occurred in Riyadh, and the victims were all Saudis aged between 65 and 86, the ministry said. That raises to 483 the number of deaths from 1,118 Mers infections in Saudi Arabia, where the virus first appeared in 2012.
Saudi Arabia, preparing to host more than two million Muslims for the annual haj pilgrimage - expected to begin on September 21 - has been worst hit by the coronavirus.
Falih said authorities had "prepared a comprehensive preventive plan starting from entry points, to haj sites, until the pilgrims return home."
The ministry would "dedicate all its efforts to prevent any infectious disease from spreading," SPA quoted him as saying.
