SARS-Like Virus: Hospital Health Workers Among Those Infected in Saudi Arabia’s Six New Cases

European Airline Shares Plunge Amid Concerns of Possible Global Outbreak

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia added six new cases of the SARS-like novel coronavirus in its Eastern Province, where two of those infected were hospital healthcare workers, immediately creating anxieties that hospitals are no longer even safe places to go to in times of medical distress.

The two sick healthcare workers were identified as nurses. Their hospital affiliations were not revealed.

"We would like to point out that two new confirmed cases of Coronavirus have been detected among health practitioners in the Eastern Region, and they are currently still under the medical observation receiving the proper treatment," the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a brief statement.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) noted all six cases were part of a hospital-centered cluster in the country's Eastern province.

From the other four cases, one patient has died, two remain in critical condition, while one has recovered, the WHO said.

With the addition of the six cases, the global count of nCoV cases is now recorded at 40, where 20 have died.

On Sunday, France reported its second infected case, who contracted the disease after sharing a hospital room with France's first infected, who recently travelled in the Middle East.

France's second confirmed SARS-like infection affected shares of European airliners as investors fretted the disease could lead to another global outbreak, similar to that in 2002 and 2003, that could scare air travelers.

Earlier, shares in IAG, parent of British Airways; Lufthansa, Europe's second-biggest airline; and Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline dropped 4.6 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

"A more developed outbreak could significantly hit short-term travel demand," Damian Brewer of RBC Capital Markets in London was quoted by Irish Independent.

"Any sustained dent in travel demand could also diminish cash flows and increase financial stress risk."