Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) were quoted as saying that there is no need for a deployment ban to the Middle East despite the increasing cases of the virus. A report on GMA News TV's “Balita Pilipinas” said on Monday the government is studying the feasibility of giving Middle East-bound Filipino workers immunization against MERS. The report said it is the OWWA which whill allocate funds for the immunization of the workers. At least three Filipinos in the Middle East have already died from MERS, which is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003, infecting 8,273 people and killing nearly 800. Meanwhile, a man died in Jordan after being infected with coronavirus, the government said Monday, on the eve of a World Health Organization emergency meeting on the disease. The latest death brings to five the number of fatalities in Jordan from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus since it first emerged in 2012. The man, in his 50s, worked in a private hospital and died on Sunday, the health ministry said. 2nd US case of MERS reported US health officials said on Monday a second case of MERS has been found in the state of Florida. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the presence of the virus. The CDC said in a statement it was the second “imported” instance of MERS. – With agencies
