Saudi Arabia reports one more death from MERS virus

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia says one more person has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 52 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the center of the outbreak.

The Health Ministry said Monday that an 83-year-old woman died over the weekend. She was among 124 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September last year.

The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

It emerged in the Middle East and can cause rapid kidney failure but doesn't seem as infectious as SARS. It has been dubbed MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome. (AP)