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 "Medical personnel have recorded one case of the
coronavirus in Sanaa and the victim is a Yemeni man who works as an
aeronautics engineer," the semi-official al-Thawra newspaper quoted
Public Health Minister Ahmed al-Ansi as saying.
"The ministry is working in effective cooperation with the World
Health Organisation to confront this virus and is in direct and
constant communication with all hospitals to receive information on
any other suspected cases," Ansi said.
MERS, which emerged in the Middle East in 2012, is from the same
family as the SARS virus and can cause coughing, fever and
pneumonia.
Although the worldwide number of MERS infections is fairly small,
the more than 40 percent death rate among confirmed cases and the
spread of the virus beyond the Middle East is keeping scientists and
public health officials on alert.
Cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Tunisia as well as in several
countries in Europe. Scientists are increasingly focused on a link
between human infections and camels as a possible "animal reservoir"
of the virus.
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The UAE news agency WAM said on Friday an expatriate health
worker had died from the virus and five others had been infected in
the Gulf state. This followed Saudi reports last week of two deaths
and nine other cases of infection in the kingdom, including among
hospital staff.
(Reporting by Mohamed Ghobari; writing by Yara Bayoumy; editing by
Sami Aboudi)
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