HEALTH

Saudi Arabia reports another death from SARS-like virus; 61 dead

The Associated Press Published Sunday, February 23, 2014 7:17AM EST

This undated file image released by the British Health Protection Agency shows an electron microscope image of a coronavirus, part of a family of viruses that cause ailments including the common cold and SARS. (AP / Health Protection Agency)

Text:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia says a woman has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 61 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the centre of the outbreak.

The Health Ministry said that the 81-year-old Saudi woman, who was chronically ill, died in a Riyadh hospital on Sunday.

The ministry says she was among 147 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September 2012.

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.