Saudi Arabia announced Friday two more deaths from the MERS coronavirus, taking the country’s toll to 87.

A Health Ministry bulletin on the Internet said a total of 299 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome had been detected in the Kingdom since MERS first appeared in September 2012.

Meanwhile, acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih said that the ministry is considering transferring all MERS patients to King Abdullah Medical Complex north of Jeddah, adding that a decision will be announced next week.

During a tour of the complex he said: “I and my colleagues in the ministry have reviewed a number of options including the transfer of all infected patients to the complex. We are assessing the complex capacity and what needs to be done in case we take this step.”

MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus which erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.