Mohammed Dawood

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — All hospitals in the Kingdom have been put on high alert to prevent the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and a World Health Organization (WHO) mission is preparing to arrive here in the coming week to take preventive measures against an anticipated spring season upsurge of the deadly virus.



Deputy head of Health Ministry’s Command and Control Center Dr. Khaled Obaid Bawakid has asked all doctors and nurses in government and private hospitals not to leave the country until two weeks from the last time they mixed with coronavirus-infected patients.



Dr. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, head of the department of infectious diseases in King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah, has expressed worry about the rising number of coronavirus cases across the Kingdom.



He said judging from past experiences the virus becomes especially active from February to May because of the climate changes.



Meanwhile, two more people succumbed to the deadly coronavirus and six others have been infected in five cities in 48 hours.



The Health Ministry confirmed a 70-year-old Saudi man in Madinah and a 41-year-old expatriate worker in Buraidah were the latest victims.



According to the ministry, the first of the six new infections included a 31-year-old expatriate woman working as a health practitioner who had been mixing with other infected people in a government hospital in Al-Khobar. The second and third cases were two expatriate men in Buraidah who were 41 and 42 respectively. The latter was a man working at a camel farm.



The fourth infected case was a 81-year-old Saudi man in Al-Ras, Qassim, the fifth a 31-year-old Saudi in Najran who had also been working with camels and the sixth a 47-year-old expatriate man who was also infected in Najran. The ministry described the conditions of the infected cases as stable and said they are currently under treatment.



It said the woman was treated and discharged from a government hospital in Al-Khobar.