Three more cases of novel coronavirus reported from Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia cluster

Three more cases of novel coronavirus (nCoV) have been reported out of the Al-Ahsa governate in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, according to a letter published on ProMed Mail today.

Image/CIA

Since the World Health Organization update on May 2, this make 13 cases reported in this area of the country in a very short time frame. The onsets of the 13 cases in this cluster range from April 14-May 1.

The letter from Ziad A Memish MD, Deputy Minister for Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Alfaisal University, the three newest cases are as follows:

Case 11: 62 year old female with multiple comorbidities. Start of symptoms [19 Apr 2013] and deceased [3 May 2013]
Case 12: 71 year old male with multiple comorbidities. Start of symptoms [15 Apr 2013], deceased [3 May 2013]
Case 13: 58 year old female with comorbidities. Start of symptoms [1 May 2013] and currently ventilated in critical but stable condition.

Dr. Memish suggests that the 13 cases associated with this cluster are due to nosocomial transmission all linked to one health care facility.

More than half of the confirmed nCoV cases in this cluster (7) have died. All the patients reportedly had some comorbidities.

Overall, the total confirmed cases of nCoV is 30, including 18 deaths (a 60% case-fatality ratio).

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