REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- The Ngurah Rai international airport management increased alert on passengers from the Middle East following the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, which infected 480 people in Saudi Arabia and killed 139, an official stated.

"What we will be focusing on is passengers arriving from the Middle East countries. We have set up a thermal scanner at the international arrival gate to detect people with body temperature above the normal level," Co General Manager of the airport management I Gusti Ngurah Ardita remarked here on Tuesday.

According to the official website of World Health organization (WHO) www.who.int, MERS is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel corona virus (MERS-CoV), which was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause diseases ranging from common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Earlier, the Xinhua news agency reported that Saudi Arabia's registered number of MERS coronavirus cases had increased to 480 by Saturday (May 10), including 139 deaths, after adding six new cases and six more deaths, noted the country's Health Ministry.

One of the patients was diagnosed and died in the last 24 hours, while the remaining cases were previously detected as critical cases, according to the Health Ministry's portal.

Of the six newly identified cases, one is receiving treatment at the ICU, three are in stable condition and two are showing no symptoms. Three of the new cases are from Riyadh, two from Jeddah, and one from Mecca.

In addition, another six cases, two men and four women, have fully recovered and have been discharged from the hospital.

The coronavirus was first discovered in mid-2012 in an old man with acute pneumonia and renal failure. It has spread from the Gulf countries to North Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe, killing more than a hundred people and infecting hundreds of others.

Saudi Arabia has recorded the highest number of MERS cases in the world, registering new cases and deaths almost on a daily basis.

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