Saudi king visits Jeddah as two more die of Mers

“The king decided to move up his visit to Jeddah after the media exaggerated their coverage of the coronavirus,” Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah, Minister of National Guard, told the students of King Abdul Aziz University on Wednesday in comments published by online news site Sabq. “The king cannot be away from his sons and daughters, the citizens, anywhere. At one time, he cut his visit to France to return home to Jizan and be with the people as they faced at the Rift Valley Fever,” he said.

Meanwhile, the country’s health ministry said on Thursday that two more patients who became infected with the virus have died, and that 13 others have contracted the virus.

The new cases were reported in the capital of Riyadh, as well as Jeddah and the Islamic holy cities of Makkah and Medina.

The deaths bring to 83 the number of people who have died in the kingdom since contracting the virus in September 2012. The kingdom has recorded a total of 285 confirmed cases.

On Monday, King Abdullah removed the country’s health minister following a recent spike in MERS cases.
The unscheduled visit by the monarch was the latest indication of a new approach taken by the Saudis to deal with Mers as the health ministry announced new cases, including the first case in Makkah, the city where pilgrims from all over the world perform the rituals of Umrah throughout the year and the rituals of pilgrimage once a year.

The presence of the virus in the city would mean much higher risks of international contacts, especially considering that the holy month of Ramadan is due this summer, when Muslims from around the world converge on the city to perform the Umrah.

Saudi authorities have reassured the local and international communities that the outbreak was not an epidemic.

Abdullah Mirghalani, assistant deputy Haj minister, told local daily Al Eqtisadiathat the Health Ministry had not declared the situation an emergency and that the Haj Ministry would act only in accordance with decisions made by health authorities.

Earlier this week, King Abdullah replaced the country’s health minister Abdullah Al Rabeeah with Labour Minister Adel Faqih on an acting basis.

The new minister’s action was to visit a hospital in Jeddah hit by a high cases of the virus to assess the situation and assure the local community.

On Thursday, he denied reports that schools would be shut down to contain the potentially deadly virus.

“What was said about suspending classes lacks credibility,” the minister posted on his Twitter account. “No statement to that effect has been issued and the [health] ministry will update the media and society with any information.”

The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that the recent cluster of cases among health workers was a cause of concern as the virus had clearly been contracted from a human patient and not directly from an animal host.

“WHO is unaware at this point in time of the specific types of exposure in the health care facilities that have resulted in transmission of these infections, but this remains a concern,” the UN agency said.

“Therefore, WHO has offered its assistance to mobilise international expertise to Saudi Arabia and UAE to investigate the current outbreaks in order to determine the transmission chain of this recent cluster and whether there is any evolving risk that may be associated with the current transmissibility pattern of the virus.”

- Gulf News