Mohammed Dawood Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Rapid intervention teams have been stationed at King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah to deal with any suspected case of a contagious disease including coronavirus and Ebola. The measure comes as the Health Ministry announced one more death and four new cases of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in various parts of the Kingdom. Abdul Ghani Mohammed Al-Malki, supervisor of the health monitoring centers at the airport, said the teams are specialized in dealing with all infectious diseases. He said the teams will immediately quarantine any suspected case and transport the patient to King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah using safe routes. “The suspected cases will be secluded and their luggage sterilized,” he said adding, that the teams are present at the airport 24/7. Meanwhile, an 81-year-old Saudi has died in Buraidah from MERS. The ministry said four patients, three in Riyadh and one in Jeddah, have shown signs of complete recovery from the infection. The ministry said the new cases consisted of four expatriates. A 65-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man were admitted to a government hospital in Riyadh but the ministry described their condition as stable. It said the third case involved a 65-year-old woman who has been admitted to a government hospital in Riyadh in critical condition and the fourth an expatriate man in Najran who is stable. According to the ministry's official statistics, 907 people have contracted the virus since it was discovered in the Kingdom in September 2012. It said 498 have recovered, 388 died and 21 are still under treatment in various hospitals.
