Saudi Arabia reports big jump in MERS cases, including 282 deaths
By Greg Botelho and Hamdi Alkhshali
CNN.com
Wed June 4, 2014
(CNN) — Saudi Arabia reported significantly more deaths from the MERS virus on Tuesday, the same day the country sacked one of its top health officials.
The Saudi Ministry of Health reported that 282 people have died since 2012 from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, a major uptick from the previous official death toll of 190.
This is out of 688 total cases in the Arab nation; 353 patients have recovered and 53 are still receiving treatment.
About five weeks ago, Saudi Arabia was reporting 339 known cases of MERS-CoV, 102 of which had resulted in deaths.
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The new numbers came out the same day that acting Health Minister Adel bin Mohammed Fakieh announced he had relieved Deputy Health Minister Dr. Ziad Memish from his post, according to a statement on the health ministry’s website. No reason was given.
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