Saudi Arabian health authorities hinted today at the possibility of declaring a national emergency due to the spread of the Coronavirus respiratory syndrome in the Middle East, which has already caused 282 deaths.
The TV channel Al-Arabiya quoted Tareq Madani, head of the Saudi Medical Advisory Board, who confirmed that by Tuesday the number of deaths by MERS stands for the Coronavirus amounted to 282 starting from the detection of the first case here in September 2012.
Statistics show that in recent months the contagion multiplied and proportionally, included nearly 100 cases more than initially estimated, according to an assessment made after the review of the national parts of hospitals dedicated to serving those infected.
During the same period of the research authorities counted 688 people infected with MERS in the kingdom, a figure that exceeded the estimate of 575 sick and 190 dead tallied prior to that review, with regions of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam the most affected.
However, acting health minister, Adel Faqieh, confirmed that among the total infected there are 53 patients still receiving treatment at medical centers in the country and said that, despite recent statistics, fewer people have now contracted the disease.
Faqieh, who took office barely two months after the ouster of former minister Abdullah Al-Rabeeah for his alleged incompetence in tackling the spread of corona-virus, dismissed his deputy Ziad Memish on Monday, following criticism for mismanagement of the crisis.
WHO relates genetically to MERS with virus of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and considers it a less contagious but more deadly relative, although the spread of the former in Asia in 2003 affected more than 8,200 people and caused around 800 deaths.
So far there are reports of infection in other 16 countries, mostly Arabic, but also there are victims in the United States, Europe and Asia.
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