Riyadh, Jumada I 10, 1436, March 1, 2015, SPA -- The Ministry of Health today announced that it is issuing a weekly statement in addition to its current daily one to inform the public on the situation of MERS, corona in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The MOH said that from 3 to 9 Jumada Al-Ula 1436 H., as many as 1493 corona samples were diagnosed at the ministry's labs, out of them 18 proved positive for patients ranging from 24 to 91 years old, out of them 12 in Riyadh and a single case in each of Ihsa, Al-Khober, Jeddah, Najran, Buraidah and Al-Joaf. The statement pointed that among the patients were nine Saudis, three Yemenis, two Filipinos, and one from each of India, Egypt, Sudan and Syria. They are 13 males and five females, the statement said, adding that six cases were detected in the private sector, six in the MOH, two in the National Guard, three in university hospitals and one in the military hospital. Over the last week, MOH's Rapid Response Teams to combat the epidemic, carried 26 field tours, the statement said, adding that preventive teams conducted 10 home visits. The statement concluded that Agriculture Ministry teams received six notice of suspected corona cases. --SPA 22:45 LOCAL TIME 19:45 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w