Saudi Arabia Confirms 6 New Cases Of Coronavirus
“Saudi Arabia has confirmed six new cases of the SARS-like novel coronavirus in its Eastern Province, state media reported on Monday and Tuesday, citing the health ministry,” Reuters reports. “On Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it had had a total of 24 confirmed cases since the disease was identified last year, of whom 15 had died,” the news service notes (McDowall, 5/14). However, according to Agence France-Presse/GlobalPost, the four cases detected this week “[bring] the number of cases there to 28 out of a global 38 cases.” The news service adds, “The [WHO] on Tuesday revised up the death toll from the SARS-like coronavirus from 18 to 20 worldwide, but said the two additional fatalities in Saudi Arabia were old cases” (5/14). “The Saudi Arabian government is conducting ongoing investigation into the outbreak, it said,” according to Xinhua, which notes, “Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encouraged all member states to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns” (5/14). “[H]ealth officials said vaccines were unlikely to play a role in controlling the outbreak,” ABC News writes, adding, “Instead, they’ve focused on detecting the novel coronavirus, dubbed nCoV, and have quickly isolated patients” (Moisse, 3/14).
The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.