Egyptian Health Ministry probes suspected MERS death

A patient suspected of having corona virus MERS died on Monday in Port Said, state television announced.

The 60-year-old woman died in the Port Said Fever Hospital after returning from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Health official are trying to confirm the cause of death.

On Friday, Health Minister Adel Adawy said Egypt had no new recorded cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ‘MERS’, beyond one announced the week before.

“There are no recorded positive cases of MERS in Egypt, all [new] suspected cases turned out to be negative,” he said in a press statement.

MERS, a deadly respiratory virus that appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012, is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that emerged in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

The health ministry has already issued a warning against traveling to Saudi Arabia during the upcoming pilgrimage season, especially children and the elderly.

Source: Reuters & Ahram Online