Saudi Arabia announces 55th MERS death

A 37-year-old man has died in Riyadh, becoming the 55th person to die of MERS in Saudi Arabia, according to the country's health ministry.

The Saudi health ministry has announced a new MERS death, raising to 55 the number of people killed by the coronavirus in the country with the most fatalities.

A 37-year-old Saudi man died in Riyadh, the ministry said on its website on Sunday.

The World Health Organisation says it has been informed of 155 laboratory-confirmed MERS cases worldwide so far, including 64 deaths, most of them in Saudi Arabia.

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

It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that emerged in Asia in 2003 and infected 8273 people, nine per cent of whom died.


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Source: AAP



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