Saudi Arabia Fires Health Minister After MERS Outbreak

Revelation 6:7,8 NCV When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.

Saudi Arabia fired Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabiah in the mist of the largest outbreak of the killer MERS virus since its discovery two years ago.

The news comes as two more people were confirmed to have died from the virus.  A 73-year-old Saudi man died in Riyadh and a 54-year-old man in Jeddah died on Monday.

Saudi Arabia has been dealing with a major outbreak of the virus with over 20 infections discovered in the last week.  The country’s death toll climbed to 83 and the total number of cases jumped to 261.  The outbreak of the last week was more than ten percent of the total cases.

The now-former Health Minister had said on Monday he didn’t know why there was a sudden rise in the virus other than noting there was a small increase the previous April.

The World Health Organization confirmed the first cases of the virus in Southeast Asia.  There is no vaccine for MERS.

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