According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), no new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported in the Kingdom over the past 60 days.
It is noteworthy that the Middle East Respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus or MERS‐CoV) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The MERS virus is transmitted primarily from animals to people, but transmission from people to people is also possible.
It is a zoonotic virus, and scientific evidence suggests that people are infected through direct or indirect contact with infected dromedary camels. It causes severe infection that result in a high mortality rate. Its common symptoms include fever, coughing, shortness of breath and pneumonia in some cases. And in other cases symptoms of MERS are not limited to respiratory symptoms only. Gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting have also been reported. General hygiene measures should be practices such as: regular hand-washing before and after touching animals, and avoiding contact with sick animals and observing food hygiene practices. Also, people must avoid consuming raw camel milk or camel urine, as well as eating meat that has not been properly cooked.