RIYADH: Four more people have succumbed to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-conronavirus (MERS-CoV) and a fresh case has been reported from Jeddah, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

All those who died due to the contagion were Saudis, three of whom were from Riyadh while one from Madinah, it said.

“Two men, aged 45 and 87, and a woman, aged 63, died in the capital. The person who died in Madinah was an 82-year-old male.”

Laboratory tests of samples collected from a 30-year-old Saudi woman from Jeddah proved positive for MERS, but the patient is in a stable condition, the ministry said.

The ministry also said that a 30-year-old expatriate man from Madinah and a 21-year-old Saudi woman from Riyadh recovered from the illness recently.

The total number of MERS cases in the Kingdom since June 2012 has now risen to 1,244 — 54 percent of which recovered and 43 percent died.