January 01, 2014
Muscat: The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has claimed one more life in the Sultanate.
According to the Ministry of Health, the Sultanate's second MERS coronavirus patient died of lung failure in a hospital last Monday.
"A 59-year-old MERS coronavirus patient, who was under treatment, died on December 30. He had lung failure and pneumonia," the Ministry of Health said, while adding that the ministry is prepared to deal with these situations.
The Sultanate's first MERS coronavirus patient died in the hospital on November 10. The first MERS-CoV victim, who was admitted to the hospital in Nizwa in October, was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, among other complaints.
Last week, the Saudi health authorities announced a new casualty of MERS-CoV, bringing to 57 the number of people killed by the coronavirus in the country with the most fatalities.
The MERS-CoV, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, emerged in Saudi Arabia last year and its occurance has been reported in Qatar, France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and Britain.
MERS-CoV is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine per cent of whom died.
© Times of Oman 2014
