The death toll from the SARS-like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia has risen to 32, as the kingdom's Health Ministry disclosed on Monday that four more have recently succumbed to the fatal disease.

Two of the fatalities came from western city of Taif while the other two were pronounced dead in Eastern Province, the ministry said on its website.

Four More Die From SARS-Like MERS Virus in Saudi Arabia, Death Toll in KSA Rise to 32

At the same time, three more cases of new infections were confirmed by the ministry. One came from Eastern Province, where most of the kingdom's cases have been registered, another in the capital Riyadh, and a third in the western city of Jeddah who happened to be suffering from a "chronic" lung problem.

The new MERS-CoV, in the same family as with SARS, had so far infected 64 worldwide, with 38 dying from the disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus which emerged September in 2012 has been detected in people from sporadic points of the globe such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Tunisia and the United Kingdom.

However researchers believed the MERS-CoV had been existing at least a year earlier than September 2012, judging from the time of the first known case in Jordan in April 2012.

Its origins remain unclear and seemed to transfer between people only on prolonged, close contact, as in the case of those found infected in France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and Britain. Although the patients in these regions got their infections during travel from the Middle East or from people who travelled from the Middle East, there had been "limited local transmission" to people in those countries who had not been to the Middle East.

Those who got infected with the disease in those regions contracted it because they "had been in close contact with the laboratory-confirmed or probable cases," the WHO said.

Global health experts have warned the new MERS-CoV has the potential to spark a new global crisis if it mutates into a form that spreads more easily.

On the heels of the announcement, the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia has urged pilgrims to its annual Mecca Hajj season to defer plans to next year. During this sacred season, pilgrims converge at the Grand Mosque. Fears of congestion could spread the disease.

Read: Saudi Arabia Advises Pilgrims to Defer Hajj To Next Year, Cites Delayed Expansion Works at Grand Mosque, Fears Over MERS Coronavirus