Infographic: All you need to know about MERS Coronavirus (Mers CoV)

In the past few weeks there has been a sharp rise in the number of cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS, especially in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it has known of 250 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS infections worldwide as of April 20, of which 93 had been fatal. Experts are still struggling to understand the disease, for which there is no known vaccine. The virus is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus which erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

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So far laboratory confirmed cases of MERS CoV have been detected in the following countries since April 2012 - Present

• France

• Italy

• Jordan

• Kuwait

• Malaysia

• Oman

• Qatar

• Saudi Arabia

• Tunisia

• United Kingdom (UK)

• United Arab Emirates (UAE)

 Click here for more indepth coverage and latest news on the MERS outbreak.