The 'faceless killer' coronary virus that was announced as a threat to the entire human population finally has a name - Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. As much as the World Health Organisation (WHO) was hesitant to associate a country's or region's name to the virus, it decided otherwise as the virus' majority of affected victims were coming from Saudi Arabia.

According to WHO's official Web site, the deadly virus had already infected 49 people globally since September 2012, including 27 deaths.

Initial reports of laboratory-confirmed cases obtained by WHO came from places in the Middle East: Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

There were also infected cases confirmed by medical officials from France, Germany, Tunisia and the United Kingdom. However, the infected people were not originally from these places and had only opted for medical care. Some of the infected people became sick after coming back from trips to the Middle East. In France, Tunisia and Germany there had been cases of locales being infected but they got the virus because of close contact with those people infected from the Middle East.

To date, the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia had reported additional five people infected of the virus:

  • First patient - a 56-year-old-man, became ill on May 12, 2013 and died on May 20, 2013.
  • Second patient - 85-year-old, became ill on May 17, still in critical condition
  • Third patient - 76-year-old woman, became ill on May 24, discharged from the hospital on May 27, 2013
  • Fourth patient - 77-year-old-man, became ill on May 19, died on May 26, 2013.
  • Fifth patient - 73-year-old-man, became ill on May 18 died on May 26.

All reported victims had underlying medical conditions.

Another victim in Al-Ahsa died recently, according to the Health Ministry. It is to be recalled that back in April 2013, Al-Ahsa reported of the virus outbreak in one of its health care facility.

In France, the very first reported victim who contacted the virus from his or her trip to the United Arab Emirates had already died.

With the ongoing situation, WHO is calling all members of Middle Eastern states to continue their strict observance of travelers coming from the Middle East. Anyone found to be infected with the virus should undergo lower respiratory diagnosis to detect whether they had been infected by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Medical officials were advised to immediately consider possible infection if patients had respiratory infections and show symptoms like diarrhea.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said that "The novel coronavirus is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage by itself. The novel coronavirus is a threat to the entire world. We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat. Any new disease that is emerging faster than our understanding is never under control. We do not know where the virus hides in nature. We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these question, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention. These are alarm bells. And we must respond."

However, WHO clarified that it does not require special screenings in point of entries and that it does not announce any travel bans yet.