RIYADH: The Ministry of Health (MoH) on Monday announced that 47 of the 49 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus last week were from Riyadh while Najran and Abha reported one each.

A total of 16 patients were treated at the MoH hospitals between Aug. 16 and 22, while the rest were treated at other government and non-governmental hospitals in the Kingdom, he said.

A total of 1,390 samples were tested and only a fraction of them was found positive.

The Rapid Response Team has paid 22 visits to various facilities to monitor the condition of patients.

With five deaths and seven new cases reported on Monday, the total number of cases in the Kingdom has risen to 1,154, which included 492 deaths, 592 recoveries and 70 patients currently under treatment.

Earlier, Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih had said that there was no cause for alarm and the recent cases in Riyadh were mostly from a single source.

The minister told the directors of the 20 health regions in the Kingdom that the ministry has taken all necessary precautions to keep the disease under control.

“We have been successful in maintaining transparency and also handling the situation properly for the benefit of the welfare of the nation,” he stressed, appealing to people to refrain from meeting infected patients and to seek medical advice if they experience any respiratory problems.

“With our experience, we are confident about keeping the disease under control with the help of public cooperation,” he said.

He, however, added that the MoH is planning to launch a massive public awareness campaign to educate people about the infection, symptoms, preventive methods and curative treatment.