Saudi Arabia has notified the World Health Organisation (WHO) of four new laboratory-confirmed cases with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), said a report.
 
Of these, two are from Riyadh region - a 38-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man, are said to be in a stable condition.

The female patient from Riyadh city was diagnosed after she was admitted to a hospital for another illness on April 20.  She developed respiratory symptoms on June 11 and was lab-confirmed with MERS-CoV on June 18. She is currently in a stable condition. Investigation on the source of infection is ongoing, said the WHO report citing Saudi officials.

The 45 year old man from Riyadh city became ill on June 6 and was admitted to a hospital on June 19 and was lab-confirmed with MERS-CoV on June 20. He is reported to have no history of contact with a previously laboratory-confirmed MERS CoV case. He does not have a history of travel or a history of contact with animals.

The patient is currently in a stable condition, the report stated.

The other two are a 57-year-old man from a village located 50 km away from Umluj city, Tabuk Region and a 85 year old man from Jeddah city, Makkah Region.

The man from Tabuk Region was admitted to a hospital on June 16 and was lab-confirmed with MERS-CoV on June 22. The patient was air-ambulanced to Jeddah on June 24 and is currently in a critical condition, stated the report.

He has a history of exposure to camels on a daily basis. He is reported to have an underlying medical condition, it added.
 
On the 85-year-old man from Jeddah, the WHO officials said, he is currently in a stable condition.

Till June 3, the National IHR Focal Point of Saudi Arabia had reported 113 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MMERS-CoV, including 34 deaths.

The WHO said till date there have been 707 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 252 related deaths.-TradeArabia News Service