Lebanon's ministry of public health reported a MERS-CoV infection in a man who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia, marking the country's second such case, as the pace of new illnesses in Saudi Arabia slowed over the past several days.
Lebanese man had been to Saudi Arabia
In a statement recently posted in Arabic on Jun 28, Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said the man was diagnosed with MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) on Jun 16. He had experienced several days of fever and respiratory symptoms after arriving from Saudi Arabia.
The man is being treated and is currently in good health at his home, where he is being isolated and is undergoing monitoring. The health ministry also said it is monitoring people who were in contact with the patient during travel and at his home in Lebanon.
Lebanon's only other MERS-CoV case, reported in 2014, also involved a man—a Lebanese national who worked as a health provider—who had recently traveled in the Gulf region.
Saudi Arabia developments
Elsewhere, the number of new MERS-CoV infections in Saudi Arabia seems to have slowed following a spate of hospital-related cases in Riyadh, with only one case reported over the last 6 days.
The latest illness was reported in Jul 1, involving a 70-year-old Saudi man from Albaha in the country's southwest, according to a statement from the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH). The man has symptoms and is in stable condition. He is not a health worker.
Investigators are still reviewing how the man was exposed to the virus.
One more death was noted in a previously reported patient, that of a 70-year-old man from Riyadh who had an underlying health condition, according to a Jun 30 MOH update.
As of today, Saudi Arabia has reported 1,673 cases, including 681 deaths, since MERS-CoV was first detected in humans in 2012. Nine people are still being treated for their infections.
See also:
Jun 28 Lebanon health ministry press release
Jul 1 Saudi MOH update
Jun 30 Saudi MOH update
Jul 3 Saudi MOH update
