A 76-year-old Saudi woman from Riyadh and a 55-year-old expatriate man from Hail died of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) on Friday.
With this, the total number of people who have succumbed to the virus in the Kingdom has risen to 579 since June 2012.
Elsewhere in Buraidah, which has become a hotbed of MERS, a 57-year-old male expatriate tested positive for the infection, even as the Health Ministry said two Saudi patients were discharged on full recovery from hospitals in Sagraa and Al-Zulfi.
Out of the total of 1,357 cases reported from different parts of the Kingdom since the outbreak of MERS in June 2012, 763 have recovered and 15 are currently being treated in different hospitals.
Meanwhile, a local newspaper accused the health minister of not revealing his plans to tackle the outbreak of MERS in Buraidah. It said details were not given about the minister’s plans to visit Al-Qassim province in the Youn Al-Jawaa’ governorate.
The report claimed that the minister did not reveal any details of his meetings with Buraidah health officials and that journalists were barred from meeting him while he was in the region.
The report did not indicate whether any attempts were made to get the comment of the minister or the ministry’s spokesperson.
Just three days ago, a young woman and an elderly man died of MERS in Buraidah on Tuesday, and most of the cases were from the city during the past 30 days.
Abdul Aziz bin Saeed, deputy health minister for public health, had recently told Arab News that the high incidence of MERS in Buraidah was mainly due to the patients’ contact with camels.
Source: Arab News