Coronavirus Cases in the UAE Update – AhlanLive.com

Twelve people based in Abu Dhabi have now been diagnosed with a rare but potentially fatal virus, the emirate’s health authority has revealed.

All tested positive for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), a rare strain of coronavirus first detected in the Gulf in autumn 2012. A Filipino paramedic died of the virus in Al Ain on 10 April.

The people currently diagnosed with MERS are being kept in hospital as a precaution but have yet to display any symptoms of the illness, said the UAE’s state news agency, WAM. It’s expected they’ll be free of the virus within a couple of weeks.

One of the 12, a Filipino nurse, has already tested negative after flying home to Manila, the Philippines’ national health authority said yesterday. The unnamed man, one of four healthcare workers who tested positive for MERS last week, is now being kept under quarantine in the country’s capital, having flown home against medical advice.

The latest figure has yet to be confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), but the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD) said the current situation is “not a public health concern”, adding that it’s working with the UAE’s Ministry of Health (MOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to minimise risks of the disease spreading.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses including strains responsible for a range of illnesses in humans, from the common cold to SARS. Viruses of this family also cause a number of animal diseases. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a newly identified strain of coronavirus which has caused the deaths of 93 people worldwide since it was first identified in 2012. A further 243 people globally have been diagnosed with the disease.

A 54-year-old Malaysian man with underlying health problems died in the country on 13 April, its Ministry of Health reported. The deceased had been on a two-week pilgrimage to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and returned home on 28 March.