JEDDAH: Two foreigners died of MERS in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the health ministry said yesterrday, as fears rise over the spreading respiratory virus in the kingdom’s commercial hub.
The ministry said five more people were infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in the western city, including two foreign medics aged 54.
The latest deaths, of a 64-year-old and 44-year-old, whose nationalities were not disclosed, bring to 76 the number of people to have died of MERS in Saudi Arabia, from a total of 231 infections.
Panic over the spread of MERS among medical staff in Jeddah this month forced the temporary closure of a hospital emergency room.
On Wednesday, at least four doctors at the King Fahd hospital reportedly resigned after refusing to treat MERS patients, apparently out of fear of infection.
AFP
