Outbreak at a glance

From 22 March to 3 April 2022, two laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), including one death, were reported to the WHO by the National IHR Focal Point of Qatar. Both cases had frequent close contact with dromedary camels and consumption of their raw milk in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. The Qatar Ministry of Public Health immediately initiated case investigation and contact tracing. These are the first cases of MERS-CoV infection reported from Qatar since February 2020. The notification of these cases reiterates the need for global awareness of MERS-CoV but does not change the overall risk assessment. WHO expects that additional cases of MERS-CoV infection will be reported from the Middle East and/or other countries where MERS-CoV is circulating in dromedaries.

Outbreak overview

Between 22 March and 3 April 2022, the National IHR Focal Point of Qatar reported two laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection to the WHO.

The first case was a 50-year-old male, working and living in a camel farm in Al Shaniya Doha. On 16 March, the case presented to the emergency department at Hamad Medical Corporations in Doha with a history of productive cough for one-week, high grade fever and shortness of breath. The patient was admitted to the medical ward on 17 March, and on 18 March due to a deterioration of the health status was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A nasopharyngeal swab was collected and tested positive for MERS-CoV by reverse transcription polymecercarase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (upE and Orf1a genes) at the virology laboratory, Hamad Medical Corporation on 19 March. The patient has no comorbidities, and reported frequent close contact with dromedary camels and consumption of their raw milk in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. No recent travel history was reported for the case or any of the case’s contacts. None of the identified four contacts reported symptoms of the disease and all tested MERS-CoV negative. No further information on the health status of the case is available at the time of writing.

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