RIYADH – The Ministry of Health (MOH) launched a web page in both Arabic and English languages on the novel coronavirus at its main portal (http://www.moh.gov.sa/en/HealthAwareness/Corona). The aim of the web page is to provide information about this disease, and to update the community with the developments as well as to inform them about the ways of protection against this disease, the ministry said. The web page contains seven links with information. On Saturday, the ministry's web portal announced the detection of a new case of the deadly coronavirus. One case of coronavirus has been recorded in the Eastern Province, and he is now receiving the proper treatment, the web page reported. The latest case takes to 31 the number of officially recorded cases of the virus in the Kingdom since September. Fifteen of those have died. On Wednesday, the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) reported that two health workers in the Kingdom contracted coronavirus from patients – the first evidence of transmission in a hospital setting. “This is the first time health care workers have been diagnosed with nCoV (novel coronavirus) infection after exposure to patients,” the WHO said in a statement. The Ministry of Health is working with WHO as well as international experts to learn more about this deadly virus. There is no accurate scientific evidence identifying the way through which the virus can be transmitted from one person to another. The ministry's web page mentions that there is no available vaccine or a qualitative treatment for this virus so far. Healthcare is provided to the infected persons through alleviating symptoms and endeavoring to treat complications. On Friday Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah chaired a joint meeting of the National Scientific Committee for the Communicable Diseases and the National Scientific Committee for Infection Control to discuss the latest developments on the situation, especially in Al-Ahsa region. People were asked not to rely on rumors or non-authentic source when seeking information on coronavirus. The ministry stressed that the infection cases were still limited and that those registered in Al-Ahsa started to recede because of the measures taken by the authorities. Since last September, the WHO says it has been informed of a global total of 40 laboratory confirmed cases of the virus, including 20 deaths. While the virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Germany, Britain and France, where two patients are now in hospital in the northern city of Lille. The virus is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts and eventually killing some 800 people.
