On Wednesday, May 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed an April outbreak of a coronavirus similar to SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. Four new infections of a coronavirus known as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) have been reported in Saudi Arabia, according to health officials in that country. At least one of those cases resulted in death.
Because at least two of the MERS-CoV infections involved human-to-human transmission, some researchers are concerned that the outbreak could cause a new pandemic. Despite these fears, the WHO still assesses the overall risk posed by MERS to be "moderate" both regionally and globally. That is in part because three of the four confirmed cases were all limited to a single hospital in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The last infection occurred in the city of Taif and involved a patient who had contact with camels. That infection is not believed to be directly connected to the other three.
