This undated handout picture courtesy of the British Health Protection Agency shows the Coronavirus seen under an electron miscroscope.
RIYADH: Fifteen people in Saudi Arabia have died from a Sars-like virus out of 24 people who contracted it since last August, Health Minister Abdullah Al Rabia said yesterday.
“The number of people who contracted the virus in the kingdom since August/September is 24, of whom 15 have died,” Rabia told a news conference here.
An earlier toll provided by the World Health Organisation yesterday said 11 people had died in Saudi Arabia since last year from the disease whose medical term is NCoV-EMC, or novel coronavirus.
Rabia also said three other people are suspected of having contracted the virus in Saudi Arabia, pledging to announce with “full transparency” the results of their medical tests.
Meanwhile, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said it seemed likely the new coronavirus could be passed between humans, but only after prolonged contact. WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment Keiji Fukuda told reporters in Saudi Arabia, the site of the largest cluster of infections, that there was no evidence so far the virus was able to sustain “generalised transmission in communities” — a scenario that would raise the spectre of a pandemic.
But he added: “Of most concern ... is the fact that the different clusters seen in multiple countries ... increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact, this novel coronavirus can transmit from person to person. There is a need for countries to ... increase levels of awareness,” he said.
A public health expert said “close contact” meant being in the same small, enclosed space with an infected person for a prolonged period. Since the virus was first recorded in September 2012, there have been 34 cases reported worldwide, and 18 of those have died, according to the WHO.
While it has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, Germany, Britain and France. Agencies
