Mohammed Dawood

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — There are 10 suspected cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus currently being treated at King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah, according to the head of the Health Ministry's department of infectious diseases.



“These cases are still waiting for the final results of the lab tests,” said Dr. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, adding that at present the hospital does not have a single confirmed coronavirus case.



He said most of the suspected cases usually turn out to be fine after lab tests. “The suspected patients are usually suffering from bacterial or viral chest infections that have nothing to do with coronavirus,” he added.



Al-Ghamdi said the ministry has asked all government and private hospitals to consider patients with respiratory problems as suspected coronavirus cases until proven otherwise.



Meanwhile the Ministry of Health announced that out of 1,493 samples tested in the last week of February, 18 were found to be confirmed coronavirus cases.



It added that these cases were aged 24 to 91. The ministry said there were 12 cases in Riyadh and one each in Al-Ahsa, Al-Khobar, Jeddah, Najran, Buraidah and Al-Jouf.



The patients consisted of nine Saudis, three Yemenis, two Filipinos, an Indian, a Syrian, an Egyptian and a Sudanese.



According to the ministry, the patients consisted of 13 men and five women, of whom 12 were being treated in government and private hospitals, three in university hospitals, two in the National Guard hospitals and one in the Military Hospital.



The ministry also announced that a confirmed case of coronavirus was discovered in Qassim on Sunday. It said the case was an expatriate man who is 45 and has been admitted to a government hospital in critical condition.