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 A health ministry statement said the new cases had
been reported in the capital Riyadh, the coastal city of Jeddah and
the "holy capital" Mecca in the past 24 hours. Authorities had also
registered five more deaths due to the virus, it said.
The jump in cases is of particular concern because Saudi Arabia will
host pilgrims from around the world in July during the Muslim month
of Ramadan, as well as in early October when millions of worshippers
perform the annual Haj.
In total, 92 people have died of MERS in Saudi Arabia, the ministry
said on its website.
Saudi Arabia has witnessed a jump in the rate of infection in recent
weeks, with many of the new cases recorded in Jeddah, the kingdom's
second-largest city. A large proportion of the people infected are
healthcare workers.
MERS emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and is from the same family
as the SARS virus, which killed around 800 people worldwide after
first appearing in China in 2002. MERS can cause coughing, fever and
pneumonia.
Although the number of MERS infections worldwide 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.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva said on
Friday it was "concerned" about the rising MERS numbers in Saudi
Arabia.
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"This just highlights the need to learn more about the virus,
about the transmission, and about the route of infection," he said.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah replaced the health minister last
week after growing public concern about the spread of the disease.
Saudi authorities say they have invited five leading international
vaccine makers to collaborate with them in developing a MERS
vaccine, but virology experts argue that this makes little sense in public
health terms. (Reporting by Sylvia Westall;
editing by Andre Grenon)
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