A report released by a global research initiative on Saturday emphatically said that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) still cannot be deemed a global threat.

The observation was made in a report issued by the BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research on May 16, which was authored by the Global Economics Research Team.

“The apparent limit on the virus to easily spread from person to person in community settings has so far kept the World Health Organization (WHO) from declaring MERS a global health emergency,” the report said.

The WHO emergency committee judged that there has not been enough convincing evidence that the disease has become more transmissible from person to person.

While MERS is contagious, infection has only spread when there is close person-to-person contact, such as when providing unprotected care to a patient.

“Indeed, the WHO emergency committee judged that much of the recent surge in cases was from outbreaks at hospitals in Saudi Arabia, where infection control and prevention safeguards may have operated at suboptimal levels, according to WHO,” the report said.

The rapid spread of the potentially fatal coronavirus has become more concerning, the report said.

“We see little macroeconomic impact on Saudi Arabia in the near-term, though we remain watchful for further developments,” the report said.

“The WHO risk assessment could be revisited if the virus is able to mutate into a strain that does transmit more easily from person to person. A change in the transmission pattern could thus make sustained community infection occur.”

“Furthermore, the large influx of pilgrims expected in July during Ramadan and in October during Haj could increase infection rates and the geographical spread of the virus.

“Saudi Arabia issued a series of rules to pilgrims during the annual Haj pilgrimage last year, banning the elderly and children and forcing others to wear respiratory masks to prevent an epidemic,” the report said.

“We expect little economic impact on Saudi Arabia for now, though we remain watchful on further developments should MERS spread rapidly further. Most of the potential adverse impact is likely to fall on consumption and on export of services related to tourism and religious tourism in particular.”

Increased uncertainty may pose further headwinds on a recovering Saudi consumer following labor market reforms.