#13,273
After more than a week without an update, the Saudi MOH overnight posted 6 days worth of data on their MERS surveillance website, albeit still missing some information. The list of entries - which skips April 11th - follows:
Curiously, while 4 cases are announced (2 on the 12th, 1 each on the 15th & 16th), when you drill down to the individual reports, only 3 new cases are listed. The data page for the 16th (at top of this blog), shows no activity.
We do have two cases reported on the 12th; one from Najran and one from Hufoof.
And one case reported on the 15th, from Al Qunfudhah.
Additionally, 2 deaths and 2 recoveries are reported over the past week. Depending upon which graphic you choose to latch onto (English or Arabic page), there are either 6, 7, or 8 active cases under treatment.
The last case line list - published by the World Health organization on Jan 26th - was current only through January 17th. Meaning we are now 3 months since the last detailed report, although we've seen monthly summaries from EMRO.
While reporting has been choppy for several months now - often posted belatedly and in batches, and sometimes missing data - the good news is we aren't seeing any changes to the pattern of cases.
With the holy month of Ramadan now less than a month away (May 16th) - which brings with it a surge in international religious pilgrims second only to the Hajj - we'll be watching closely for any signs that this status quo has changed.
