Another person has died in Saudi Arabia after contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), bringing to 64 the total number of fatalities related to the virus in the Gulf kingdom.
The Saudi Ministry of Health said the latest victim was a chronically ill 86-year old Saudi man who died in Riyadh on Sunday, Associated Press reported.
The ministry said five new cases of the virus also had been confirmed recently, increasing the number of people infected in the kingdom since September 2012 to 162.
MERS is believed to have originated in Saudi Arabia, where the first case was detected in April 2012.
It is considered a more virulent but a less transmissible cousin of SARS, a coronavirus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.
The World Health Organisation says more than 80 people have died from the infectious disease.
Chinese scientists have claimed to have made a laboratory breakthrough in research to find a cure for the virus but there has been no further update since January.
The Chinese study identified a compound that during lab dish experiments blocked infection by MERS.
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