Review raises Saudi MERS case count 20%, death toll 48%
Robert Roos
CIDRAP News
Jun 03, 2014
In a surprising announcement today, Saudi Arabian officials revealed that a “rigorous” examination of all their MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) data has led to an abrupt 19.6% increase in the country’s official case count and a 48.4% increase in the death toll.
Yesterday the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) was reporting 575 MERS cases and 190 deaths. With today’s announcement, the case count jumped by 113, to 688, while the death toll rose by 92, to 282. Of the nonfatal cases, 353 patients have recovered and 53 are still being treated.
Later in the day, the MOH reported another new MERS case and a death in a previously reported case, raising the totals to 689 cases and 283 deaths.
The announcement came the day after the MOH disclosed the dismissal of Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish, MD, who has been the nation’s leading investigator of and spokesman on MERS-CoV, and has also been the target of frequent criticism of the MOH’s response to it. Today’s news also came a few weeks after the appointment of a new health minister, Adel bin Mohammad Faqih.
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