Two new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome have been discovered in the UAE, the World Health Organisation revealed yesterday.
WHO said that the latest cases of the coronavirus, or Mers, came from the same Abu Dhabi hospital where a cluster of cases were reported a week ago.
To date, 16 people in the UAE have been infected after coming into contact with Abundio Verzosa Esporlas, a Filipino paramedic at Al Jimi Hospital in Al Ain who died on April 10 after contracting the virus.
The news coincided with confirmation from Saudi Arabia that seven Mers cases were discovered in the kingdom over the weekend, bringing to 36 the number of infections diagnosed there in just five days.
Three UAE healthcare workers who tested positive for Mers have now been cleared of any infection, the Health Authority–Abu Dhabi (Haad) said yesterday.
The three patients, who have been kept in precautionary quarantine, would be leaving hospital soon, the health authority said, adding that they were able to overcome the infection within 10 days without any treatment.
They were among several healthcare workers in the UAE who were reported last week to be have the coronavirus.
Haad said it expected that the other individuals who tested positive should soon test negative and would be able to return home. They are being tested daily.
Mers, a coronavirus that emerged in Saudi Arabia two years ago, has infected 231 people in the kingdom, 76 of whom have died, the health ministry said on its website.
Most of the new infections are in the port city of Jeddah, where 30 people have been infected since April 14, seven fatally. Another six cases, one of them fatal, were discovered in Riyadh.
Last week, Malaysian health authorities said a Malaysian citizen had been confirmed as having the disease after he returned from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. He has since died.
Saudi authorities last week issued several statements to reassure the public that there was no immediate cause for concern about the latest outbreak and that international definitions of an epidemic had not been met.
Mers has no vaccine or anti-viral treatment, but international and Saudi health authorities say the disease, which originated in camels, does not transmit easily between people and may simply die out.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
