Via Zawya, an October 23 Arab News report: MERS kills man in Hofuf and infects five others in a week. But there seems to be more to the story. Excerpt and then a comment:
RIYADH: With the onset of winter, fresh incidents of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) are being recorded in some parts of the Kingdom, according to figures released by the Ministry of Health here on Friday.
During the past seven days, six new cases of MERS, including one death, were reported in the Kingdom.
The death was of a 73-year-old Saudi man in Hofuf who was ailing for some time in hospital, while the other five cases were those of a 53-year-old Saudi man from Abha, a 72-year-old man from Riyadh, an expatriate, 47, from Buraidah, a 73-year-old Saudi man, and an expatriate woman from Hofuf.
According to doctors, the patients in Riyadh and Abha are in critical condition getting treatment in the intensive care unit.
Since July 2012, 1,463 patients were infected in all parts of the Kingdom. This resulted in 612 deaths, 845 recoveries and five patients currently receiving treatment. During the last Islamic year which ended a month ago, there had been a total of 192 people, including 131 men, who were affected by MERS-CoV.
The month of Ramadan witnessed the peak when it recorded 47 patients in one single health facility.
Dr. Shin Young-soo, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for the Western Pacific, said continued vigilance for any new cases of MERS-CoV through an early detection and rapid response system in particular, is highly recommended.
Healthcare workers are further advised to practice stringent infection prevention and control measures when treating patients to protect themselves and others. This includes hand washing before and after contact with each patient, and wearing a medical mask, eye protection, gown and gloves when treating probable or confirmed MERS-CoV cases.
According to the KSA MOH Command and Control Center's Statistics page, seven cases, not six, were reported between October 17 and October 23: one on October 17, two more on the 18th (plus a recovery and the death mentioned), one on the 20th, and three on the 21st.
And since then, we haven't had an update at all. This is an unusual pause; the KSA MOH reliably posts a report every day—cases or no cases. Perhaps it's just a technical glitch, or it may be that more cases have turned up than the Saudis want to report.