No cases of SARS-related virus reported in Jordan 

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) A new virus that has raised concerns after a fatal case was recently reported in Saudi Arabia has not been detected in Jordan, a government official said on Tuesday.

Minister of Health Abdul Latif Wreikat said the pandemic monitoring committee affiliated with the ministry was following up on the issue and that no cases have been reported yet.

Global health officials are closely following the new respiratory virus related to SARS that is believed to have killed at least one person in Saudi Arabia and left another person in critical condition in Britain, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

It added that the virus is a coronavirus, from a family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed some 800 people, mostly in Asia, in a 2003 epidemic.

In the latest case, British officials alerted the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday of the new virus in a man who was transferred from Qatar to be treated in London. He had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia and is now being treated in an intensive care unit after suffering kidney failure.

Health officials don't know yet whether the virus could spread as rapidly as SARS did or if it might kill as many people, according to the agency.

Meanwhile, the minister said Jordanians who will travel to Mecca for the Hajj (greater pilgrimage) this year will be vaccinated against the seasonal flu and meningitis.

According to the WHO website, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that includes those which cause the common cold and SARS.