Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – Representatives of a specialist international company are scheduled to arrive in the Kingdom shortly to discuss the manufacturing of a vaccine against MERS-coronavirus, spokesman of the Ministry of Health Dr. Khaled Marghalani announced on Sunday. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Marghalani said members of the National Scientific Committee for Contagious Diseases and the Scientific Committee for Combating Infections will now meet on a regular basis to discuss the latest developments on the virus, which has infected 231 people in the Kingdom, of whom 76 have died. He said the ministry has invited the World Health Organization (WHO) and a number of experts from Europe, Canada, the US, and East Asian and GCC countries, among others this month to discuss the situation and the latest developments on the disease. The Kingdom has confirmed 13 new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), adding up to 42 infections in five days, a sudden increase of a disease that kills about a third of the people infected and has no cure. The new cases were announced at a press conference by Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah on Sunday. “There have been no cases in schools and this is a positive sign. Also the incidence of the disease among health workers is declining,” he said. Meanwhile, another cluster of cases has been detected in the United Arab Emirates, and a Malaysian who was recently in the Gulf has been confirmed as infected, his country said. 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. Health experts have warned, however, that MERS has the potential to mutate eventually. The number of officially confirmed Saudi cases has jumped suddenly over the past two weeks. Saudi authorities last week issued several statements aimed at reassuring the public that there was no immediate cause for concern at the latest outbreak and that it had not met international definitions of an epidemic. Rumors of unreported cases have circulated on Saudi social media feeds in recent weeks. Last week, the Cabinet asked the media to report only those cases that are officially confirmed by the Health Ministry. There were seven new infections in Jeddah, four in Riyadh and one each in Madinah and Najran. These are in addition to the 244 cases announced earlier by the ministry. Most of the new infections are in Jeddah, with 64 people infected, 12 of them fatally. Another fatal case was in Riyadh. Last week, another cluster of cases was discovered in UAE, and Yemen reported its first case. The UAE state news agency WAM said that it had recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus infections that were discovered during “routine checks” on people who had come in contact with infected individuals. WAM quoted the health authority as saying that the patients were being kept in hospital and “did not pose a danger to the public or to patients.” It expected the patients to be rid of the MERS virus within 10 to 14 days. — With agencies
