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The WHO (World Health Organisation) has said the virus MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) is now serious and urgent. The WHO’s spokesman for health security Dr Keiji Fukuda said MERS is not currently a global health emergency but needs to be carefully monitored. Dr Fukuda said declaring an emergency is "a major act" that can unnecessarily "raise anxieties." He added that there is no "evidence of person-to-person transmissibility". The virus has been reported in 18 countries since starting in Saudi Arabia in 2012. There have been 571 confirmed cases and 171 deaths.

The USA's Center for Disease Control said MERS is a viral respiratory illness. It said: "Most people who have been confirmed to have the MERS infection developed severe acute respiratory illness. They had a fever, cough, and shortness of breath. About 30 per cent of these people died." Researchers believe it came from camels in Saudi Arabia. Everyone who got it had very close contact with other sufferers. Doctors said it does not spread like a flu virus. U.S. airports are advising those travelling to the Middle East to wash their hands often and "avoid close contact with sick people".