RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has reported five new deaths from the MERS respiratory virus, bringing the death toll in the world’s worst-hit country to 168. In its latest tally, issued on Saturday, the health ministry said the total number of infections in the kingdom from the coronavirus since it first appeared in 2012 now stood at 529 people. Among the latest fatalities were two men aged 67 and 55 and an 80-year-old woman in Jeddah, the port city where a spate of cases among staff at King Fahd Hospital last month led to the dismissal of its director and the health minister.
In addition, a 71-year-old man and another aged 77 died in Riyadh and Medina respectively, the ministry website reported.