A panel of experts convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) has unanimously decided the MERS coronavirus is not, at least yet, an emergency threat to public health.
With millions of people expected to participate in the annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina between July and October, the heightened risk of the global spread of MERS-CoV infection in the period is causing concern among health officials.
The WHO has confirmed new cases of the deadly virus MERS-CoV in Italy. The latest patients are a 2-year-old girl and a 42-year-old woman who have had close contact with a 45-year-old man who visited Jordan in May, developed symptoms and was hospitalized.
