Middle East respiratory syndrome #coronavirus {#MERS-CoV} - Kingdom of #Saudi Arabia (#WHO D.O.N., May 12 '25)
Situation at a glance Between 1 March and 21 April 2025, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) reported nine cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection . Two of these cases died . Among the nine cases, a cluster of seven cases were identified in Riyadh , including six health and care workers who acquired the infection from caring for a single infected patient . The cluster was identified through contact tracing and subsequent testing of all contacts, with four of the six health and care workers being asymptomatic and two showing only mild , nonspecific signs. The notification of these cases does not change the overall risk assessment , which remains moderate at both the global and regional levels. These cases show that the virus continues to pose a threat in countries where it is circulating in dromedary camels and spilling over into the human population . WHO recommends implementation of targeted infection prevention and cont...