Faris Al-Qahtani and Mohammed Badawood Okaz/Saudi Gazette
RIYADH/JEDDAH — Seveteen people died from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (coronavirus) this month at Riyadh's King Fahd Hospital in the King Abdul Aziz Medical City. Ministry of Health's undersecretary for public health Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Saeed said 57 patients were diagnosed with coronavirus at the hospital this month and out of them 17 have succumbed to the disease. At a press conference on Sunday, Saeed said the hospital currently has 53 cases of the virus — including four hospital staff — under treatment. "About 32 cases are currently under treatment in the hospital, three quarantined at their homes and one patient discharged after recovery," he said. More than 1,100 people have contracted the virus since it was first discovered in the Kingdom in September 2012. "The hospital has the second highest number of cases of any health facility,” Saeed said. The undersecretary, who is also the head of the ministry's command and control center, said the center has sent a number of medical teams to the hospital as part of its drive to contain the spread of the virus. "The situation of coronavirus in the Kingdom is under control,” Saeed said. “There is no need to panic. We have stationed medical teams at emergency wards of all government hospitals to promptly deal with any confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus.” Assistant undersecretary for preventive medicine, Dr. Abdullah Asiri, said school students are less likely to contract the virus compared to adults. "During the past four years, the ministry has not registered any case in any school or places of gatherings," he said. Asiri, however, warned that this didn't guarantee that students would remain immune and called for adequate safety measures to be taken. "Precautionary measures should be taken at schools to prevent any possible spread of the virus among students," he said. King Fahd Hospital's consultant for infectious diseases, Dr. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, who is supervising Jeddah hospital's treatment of coronavirus cases, said the high number of cases at the King Abdul Aziz Medical City was most probably a result of the hospital handling patients of various age groups, especially older patients suffering from chronic diseases. "One carrier might have easily transferred the virus to staff and other patients in the hospital," he said. Al-Ghamdi refused to compare the Kingdom's handling of the virus with South Korea, which was declared coronavirus-free only a few months after a major outbreak. "There are no camels in Korea, which are the main cause of the infection,” he said. “Every country has it own circumstances. There is no need for comparison in this case.” Meanwhile the ministry on Sunday announced the discovery of six more coronavirus cases in Riyadh. Three of the cases — a 40-year-old Saudi woman, a 69-year-old Saudi man, and a 78-year-old expatriate — are currently in critical condition.
