By Mohammed Dawoud

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Command and Control Center of the Health Ministry has announced that 21 new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) were detected in the Kingdom in a week.

According to the center, the youngest of the patients was a 16-year-old girl who got infected by mixing with patients at her own home and the oldest was an 80-year old woman, who was believed to have contracted the virus from a hospital.

The center said as many as 12 of the cases were hospitalized, six were secluded at their homes and three died.

It said most of the patients contracted the virus by mixing with sick people or camels.

According to the center, there were 16 cases in Wadi Al-Dawasir, three in Riyadh and one each in Buraidah and Najran.

The center asked the citizens and residents not to mix with camels particularly at this time of the year, which is their breeding time.