MERS alert tightened as 100th case emerges

September 12, 2013

MERS_alertRiyadh, Sep 12: Saudi Arabia is deploying local and international resources to contain the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), says a top health official.

His remarks came as the Ministry of Health confirmed the 100th MERS case in the Kingdom.

The ministry has pledged to double its efforts to control the spread of the disease through continuous surveillance across the Kingdom.

The ministry reported four new cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 100 cases, including 47 deaths.

A ministry official said two of the new cases were from Riyadh and the other two were reported in Madinah.

In Madinah, the victims included a 22-year-old male citizen who was in contact with a MERS patient and a 24-year-old male citizen working in the health sector in Madinah.

In Riyadh, two Saudi men, 60 and 47 years of age, had contracted the virus from MERS patients.

Dr. Ziad Al-Memish, undersecretary to the Ministry of Health for Public Health, told Arab News that the ministry had already advised people who had contracted the virus to postpone their pilgrimage.

He said the ministry would keep the people informed of any new developments.

Medical specialists are struggling to understand MERS, for which there is still no vaccine.

It also has an extremely high fatality rate of more than 51 percent.

It is considered a cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

The Ministry of Health recently traced MERS to bats in the Kingdom.

Scientists from the Kingdom and the US have found DNA matching the MERS virus in a sample taken from a bat in Saudi Arabia.

The study was initially conducted by a team of researchers from the Kingdom, as well as from Columbia University, who detected MERS in a bat near the home of a man who died from the disease. The team found a small fragment of the virus’s genes in the animal that matched those seen in the patient.

The study, headed by the Ministry of Health, was conducted from October to April. It was initially conducted on 76 bats from the areas, in which the virus cases were identified.

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Agencies
May 2,2020

Doha, May 2: Twenty-three staff at a hospital in Qatar were injured when tents being used to boost capacity in response to coronavirus collapsed in a fierce storm, local media reported Friday.

Winds of up to 72 kilometres per hour (45 miles per hour) caused two temporary tent annexes at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital in Qatar's Industrial Area to collapse on Thursday, the Gulf Times reported.

No patients were hurt and most injuries to staff at the facility, 20 kilometres south west of central Doha, were minor, the daily added, citing the health ministry.

During the gale-force winds on Thursday, a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 on the ground was blown into a nearby Airbus A350 at Doha's Hamad airport causing minor damage but no injuries, the airline said in a statement.

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The Industrial Area is a gritty, densely-populated district that is home to mostly migrant labourers and has been the epicentre of Qatar's outbreak. 

Tens of thousands of residents were quarantined in the area after cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed among the community in mid-March.

Qatar -- home to hundreds of thousands of foreign labourers working on projects linked to the 2022 World Cup -- has reported 12 deaths and 14,096 cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

The hospital's executive director Hussein Ishaq said the incident was being treated "very seriously" and that an investigation had been launched.

Hospital staff had "helped ensure that no patients were injured and were safely transferred to other hospitals", he said, quoted in the Gulf Times.

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KT
April 16,2020

Dubai, Apr 16: Brand Dubai, the creative arm of the Government of Dubai Media Office (GDMO), unveiled a series of outdoor ads that form part of its new campaign to encourage the community to stay home.

Featuring the slogan 'For My Sake #StayHome for Us', the campaign depicts stunning artwork developed in collaboration with Emirati artist Maitha Demithan. The ads have been displayed on billboards, lamp posts and digital screens across Dubai.

The campaign reinforces the importance of staying at home in line with the strict restrictions on movement put in place by Dubai's Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management as part of intensified measures to combat Covid-19.

Nehal Badri, Director of Brand Dubai, said: "The outdoor campaign, displayed in prominent locations across Dubai, was designed to illustrate the importance of staying at home during the current sensitive period. Using Maitha Demithan's stunning creative artwork, we sought to send out a clear message to the community that staying at home is vital to safeguard the wellbeing of our loved ones. 

This project is one of a series of initiatives launched in collaboration with UAE-based artists to raise awareness about the need to unite efforts to protect vulnerable people from the risk of infection."

Emirati artist Maitha Demithan said: "It has been a privilege for me to work on this project and an honour to serve my country through my artworks. The three portraits featured in the campaign create a triptych that represents the people who are the most vulnerable to being infected by the virus. During such difficult times, art can play a crucial role in raising awareness on how to stay safe, but most importantly it can keep everyone inspired. I encourage all my fellow artists and the creative community to continue practicing social distancing and stay connected by using their creativity and innovation to raise awareness during this period."

Brand Dubai partnered with several media outlets, including Media 24/7, Arabian Outdoor Media and Hypermedia to launch the outdoor ads. The ads are displayed on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai Marina.

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News Network
April 26,2020

Dubai, Apr 26: Saudi Arabia reported 1223 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 17522, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday (April 26).

Meanwhile, the ministry reported 142 recoveries today, with total recoveries in the kingdom at 2357. There are 115 cases in intensive care.

The ministry also confirmed 3 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 139.

Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz has ordered the partial lifting of a curfew imposed due to the new coronavirus across the country while keeping a 24-hour lockdown in the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi news agency SPA reported Sunday. The partial lifting of the restriction started Sunday from 9am until 5pm and will continue until May 14, the agency added.

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