RIYADH: Two have died out of seven new cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) during the past six days, the Ministry of Health announced Thursday. Confirming the deaths, an official from the ministry said that the deceased were two expatriate men, 60 and 50 years of age, from Taif and Al-Qunfudah respectively. He said both had been suffering from previous illnesses. During the past seven days, the ministry has reported seven new cases in Riyadh, Hail, Al-Qunfudah, Tabuk, Buraidah, and Taif. Since July 2012, a total of 1,785 patients have been infected by MERS-CoV in all parts of the Kingdom. They included 727 deaths, 1,047 recoveries and 11 patients currently under treatment. Dr. Zakir Hussain, a medical specialist told Arab News that the disease becomes more serious due to patient negligence. “They should immediately visit their doctors when they have a continuous high fever coupled with a runny nose or cold, or chest infection. He said those who suffer from chronic diseases are easy targets and it affects people who have less immunity against diseases. He added that those who died were suffering from previous illnesses. MERS-CoV causes a severe infection in humans resulting in a high mortality rate and has proven the ability to transmit between humans. So far, they observed non-sustained human-to-human transmission has occurred mainly in health care environments. Urging its member states to conduct regular surveillance for respiratory infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised health officials to carefully review any unusual patterns. People are encouraged to follow the basics of personal and food hygiene practices, and also avoid drinking raw camel milk or camel urine, or eating meat that has not been properly cooked, WHO said, stressing that washing hands after touching animals is imperative to avoid infections.