Saudi Arabia’s Disease Prevention Center clarified Thursday that there were no cases of the novel coronavirus in the Kingdom.
The statement came after India’s Minister of State for External Affairs claimed that an Indian nurse working at a hospital in Saudi tested positive for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV).
The Saudi Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, debunked that the expatriate was infected with the new coronavirus.
It turned out that the nurse contracted MERS-COV and not 2019-nCOV, according to Dr. Tarik Al Azraqi, Chairman, Scientific Regional Infection Control Committee in Aseer Region.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia said they will coordinate with the Kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to screen passengers arriving from China.
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The 2019-nCOV has infected more than 800 people and has killed 25 so far.
