New | Saudi Arabia confirms six people died of Mers virus over the weekend
One fatality confirmed by health authorities today after five deaths at the weekend
Saudi health authorities today reported a new death from the Mers coronavirus, pushing to 169 the overall number of fatalities from the disease in the country.
The health ministry said on its website that the latest person to fall victim to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome was a 59-year-old man who died yesterday in the western city of Taif. Saudi Arabia is the worst-hit by the virus.
Other nations including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have also recorded cases, mostly in people who had been to the desert kingdom.
Mers is considered a deadlier but less transmissible cousin of the Sars virus that appeared in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine per cent of whom died.
Like Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), it appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering coughing, breathing difficulties and a temperature. But Mers differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure.
