Saudi records 60th MERS virus death

Saudi records 60th MERS virus death
A Muslim pilgrim wears a mask as she walks to Mecca's Grand Mosque to perform evening prayers on October 8, 2013 prior to the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage which begins on October 13. More than two million Muslims have arrived in Saudi Arabia's holy city for the hajj, one of the world's largest human assemblies, amid concerns over the deadly MERS coronavirus.
PHOTO: Saudi records 60th MERS virus death

Saudi health authorities have announced the death of a young man from the MERS coronavirus, bringing the death toll from the respiratory disease in the kingdom to 60.

The health ministry website said the latest victim of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in the country is a 22-year-old who was also suffering from cancer.

Saudi Arabia, the country worst hit by MERS, has recorded 145 cases, of which 60 have now proved fatal, since the virus first appeared in September 2012.

Experts are struggling to understand the disease, for which there is no vaccine.

MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine per cent of whom died.

The World Health Organisation says on its website that the WHO has now been told of 182 cases of MERS infection worldwide, and 79 deaths.

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