News Digest

Thailand reports 2nd MERS case as virus detected in Omani man

Thailand has confirmed its second case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus on Sunday, the country’s health minister said. The virus was detected in a 71-year-old Omani man travelling to Bangkok on Friday, Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn told a news conference. “After taking a taxi to a hotel, he was checked for the virus at a hospital and the MERS virus was found,” he said. The health minister said 37 others were being monitored for the virus, including the man’s son who travelled with him.

This case was found quickly, so the public should not panic.

Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn

Thailand’s first MERS case was detected last year in a businessman from Oman who survived the disease. MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered China’s deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). MERS was first identified in humans in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and the majority of cases have been in the Middle East.