Saudi Arabia registers 2 deaths, 16 new MERS coronavirus cases

RIYADH (Xinhua) - The Saudi Health Ministry announced on Saturday two more deaths and 16 new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus cases, raising the number of infection to 396, including 111 deaths.

Of the new cases, five were in Riyadh, six in Jeddah, three in Mecca and two in Medina. The two deaths were reported in Jeddah and Mecca. Six of the cases were without symptoms, five receiving treatment at normal wards and five at the ICU.

The first such case was diagnosed in 2012. Despite the registering of new cases on a daily basis, the World Health Organization has not yet declared the infection as epidemic.

Saudi Arabia announced earlier that it is working with five international medicine companies to develop a vaccine for the virus. It also said that the death rate among infected persons has been reduced from 60 percent to 32 percent.