“Saudi Arabia and the [WHO] reported three new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases in that country today, all of them in women, two of whom are health care workers,” CIDRAP News reports. “One of the patients is a 67-year-old Saudi citizen in Riyadh who has various chronic diseases and is being treated in a hospital intensive care unit, the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a very brief statement,” the news service writes, adding, “The other two patients are both 39-year-old female health care workers, one living in the southwestern region of Asir and other in Riyadh, the MOH said” (8/1). The WHO “said clinics and hospitals caring for patients suspected or confirmed with MERS infection ‘should take appropriate measures to decrease the risk of transmission … to other patients, health care workers and visitors,'” Reuters reports. “A study by an international team of infectious diseases experts who went to Saudi Arabia in May to analyze an outbreak concluded that MERS infection is a ‘serious risk’ in hospitals because it is easily transmitted in health care settings,” the news agency writes (Kelland, 8/1).

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.

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