REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU - The health condition of three patients suspected to have contracted the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection at a hospital here was improving, doctors claimed.

"The condition of the three patients is improving and their body temperature has returned to normal. One of them can even check out today," Lung specialist Azizman remarked on Thursday.

Earlier, according to the Health Service of Riau Province, three people with the initials AT (42 years), Z (65 years), and MS (48) years were suspected to have contracted the MERS-CoV infection. The three were given special medical treatment in isolated rooms, Head of the provincial health service Zainal Arifin reported here on Wednesday.

The condition of AT, who was admitted to the Awal Bros Hospital, has improved and he can be discharged from the hospital on Thursday. According to Azizman, Z and MS were still undergoing treatment at the Arifin Ahmad Hospital. The two patients are being treated in an isolated room to prevent the infection from spreading to the other patients.

However, the results of a laboratory test are yet to come from Jakarta to confirm the disease suffered by the three patients. They have just returned from a minor hajj (umrah) pilgrimage and were showing symptoms of MERS-CoV infection.

The deadly MERS-CoV virus has infected over 400 victims and killed 100 of them in Saudi Arabia. Several patients in Sumatra after returning from the umrah pilgrimage have developed symptoms similar to those of MERS-CoV infection and one of them died on Tuesday.

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