Panic as virus death toll rises
Source: AFP |
May 15, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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PANIC has gripped Saudi Arabians in the east of the country, where most cases of a deadly coronavirus have been detected, as the death toll from the SARS-like virus in the kingdom hits 15.
Scores of people have reported to hospitals in the city of Al-Ahsa in Eastern Province after showing even the slightest signs of a fever.
"I felt the symptoms of a cold, accompanied by a fever," a young man told reporters.
"I came to hospital. The symptoms disappeared by the end of the day, but I am still kept in a quarantine with other patients, which scares me," he said
Anyone showing possible symptoms of the virus after being admitted to hospitals in Al-Ahsa region had been placed in isolation, authorities said.
Fifteen of the 28 people who had contracted the coronavirus in Saudi Arabia since August have died, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia said.
Four new cases were reported in Eastern Province late on Monday. The health ministry said one patient had been treated and released from hospital.
Nine people out of 15 confirmed cases in the province had died. Among them was a nine-year-old girl who died a few hours after arriving at the King Fahd hospital in Al-Ahsa with a strong fever.
Another fatality was Haidar Ghanem, a disabled 21-year-old man who had a "strong fever" for a week. He died last Thursday, four days after being admitted to hospital.
In all, 38 cases have been reported worldwide since the virus was first detected in September 2012, with 20 of the victims dying, according to the World Heath Organization.
While the virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, where two people have died; Germany, where one person has died; Britain, where two people have died; and France, where two patients are in hospital in the northern city of Lille.
One of the French patients had shared a hospital ward with a 65-year-old man, later diagnosed with the virus thought to have been contracted while on holiday in Dubai.
The virus is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, killing some 800 people.
Keiji Fakuda, the WHO's assistant director general for health security and environment, said experts were still grappling to understand all aspects of the virus but stressed: "This new virus is not the SARS virus."
Scores of people have reported to hospitals in the city of Al-Ahsa in Eastern Province after showing even the slightest signs of a fever.
"I felt the symptoms of a cold, accompanied by a fever," a young man told reporters.
"I came to hospital. The symptoms disappeared by the end of the day, but I am still kept in a quarantine with other patients, which scares me," he said
Anyone showing possible symptoms of the virus after being admitted to hospitals in Al-Ahsa region had been placed in isolation, authorities said.
Fifteen of the 28 people who had contracted the coronavirus in Saudi Arabia since August have died, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia said.
Four new cases were reported in Eastern Province late on Monday. The health ministry said one patient had been treated and released from hospital.
Nine people out of 15 confirmed cases in the province had died. Among them was a nine-year-old girl who died a few hours after arriving at the King Fahd hospital in Al-Ahsa with a strong fever.
Another fatality was Haidar Ghanem, a disabled 21-year-old man who had a "strong fever" for a week. He died last Thursday, four days after being admitted to hospital.
In all, 38 cases have been reported worldwide since the virus was first detected in September 2012, with 20 of the victims dying, according to the World Heath Organization.
While the virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, where two people have died; Germany, where one person has died; Britain, where two people have died; and France, where two patients are in hospital in the northern city of Lille.
One of the French patients had shared a hospital ward with a 65-year-old man, later diagnosed with the virus thought to have been contracted while on holiday in Dubai.
The virus is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, killing some 800 people.
Keiji Fakuda, the WHO's assistant director general for health security and environment, said experts were still grappling to understand all aspects of the virus but stressed: "This new virus is not the SARS virus."
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