HOFUF — The primary cause for the corona virus that spread in a private hospital in this Eastern Province city killing seven people and infecting six others in the past two weeks was a contaminated dialysis equipment, the local media reported on Wednesday. Quoting informed medical and health sources, Al-Watan newspaper said an investigation committee formed to determine the causes of the coronavirus noted that a number of workers in the hospital did not observe the international rules necessary for combating epidemics. The Ministry of Health on Sunday said it was in close contact with the World Health Organization (WHO) to find out more about the new type of the coronavirus. The spread of the virus caused panic among the residents and led to a state of alert in the region's health affairs departments. A relative of one victim who died of the virus said the patient was not suffering from any serious illness when he was admitted to the private hospital for dialysis three times a week. “A few days after he was admitted to the hospital for dialysis, the doctors told us that his health condition was deteriorating. Two days later our relative died,” he said. The sources said another patient who got the virus was improving and was admitted to another hospital from which he would no be discharged before two weeks. They said the other five patients who contracted the virus were currently receiving intensive treatment but their condition was not stable. Deputy Health Minister Dr. Mansour Al-Hawasi visited a number of hospitals in Al-Ahsa on Tuesday to follow up the procedures being taken to curb the spread of the virus. He later briefed the region's Governor Prince Badr Bin Mohammed Bin Jalawi on the health situation in the region. The head of the applied medical sciences at the community college in Najran Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Qurashi said the coronavirus was one of the fast spreading viruses and described it as very serious according to international standards. He said it was very difficult to analyze the virus because it soon turns into crystal balls that look like pieces of salt or sugar. He blamed the existence of the virus in the Kingdom on a variety of reasons including travel abroad.
