Foreigner dies of Mers virus in Jeddah
Jeddah, April 14, 2014
A foreigner has died from Mers while eight people, including five health workers, have been infected in Jeddah, where the spread of the coronavirus among medics has sparked panic.
The death of the 45-year-old man, whose nationality has not been disclosed, brings the nationwide toll in the world's most-affected country to 68, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
The health ministry announced the death of the man and said five health workers - two women and three men - and three other people had been infected by the virus in Jeddah.
The announcement came days after panic over the spread of the virus among medical staff led to the closure of the emergency room at the city's main public hospital.
Health minister Abdullah Al Rabiah visited hospitals in Jeddah in a bid to calm residents.
The total cases of infection by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which first appeared in September 2012, has hit 189, the ministry said.
Yemen reported its first case of Mers coronavirus yesterday (April 13).
"Medical personnel have recorded one case of the coronavirus in Sanaa and the victim is a Yemeni man who works as an aeronautics engineer," the semi-official Al Thawra newspaper quoted Public Health Minister Ahmed Al Ansi as saying. - TradeArabia News Service
