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Commentary
Beta2c
Coronavirus Familial Cluster In Al-Ahsa
Recombinomics
Commentary 21:30
May 4, 2013
They are lying in intensive care since 8 days. And each one of them in the hospital.
The above translation describes an nCoV familial cluster involving a father, who has died, and two sons who are at the Al Ahsa hospital in Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia (see map). Initial reports described 7 confirmed novel beta2c coronavirus cases including five who have died. A follow-up report cited three more confirmed cases, including one case (33M), who was a relative of the a confirmed fatal case.
It is likely that the father in above cluster was one of the two most recent deaths in confirmed cases (each was 56M who developed symptoms on April 22 and died April 29 or 30) and one of the brothers was the case (33M) who was a relative of a confirmed fatal case. The son developed symptoms on April 28 which was at least 6 days after a confirmed fatal case. This gap in disease onset dates supports H2H transmission of nCoV, from father to son.
The detail associated with the prior report suggests that the second son had not been confirmed, even though he has been in the ICU for eight days, raising concerns that the number of unconfirmed / unreported cases is high. Multiple media reports have also cited the deaths of two children (10 and 11 years old) at the hospital over a week ago, and they have also not been reported. The absence of these three critical and fatal cases who were hospitalized over a week ago suggests that the number of unreported cases is significant.
Detail on the number of fatal, hospitalized, and symptomatic suspect SARS-like cases (see map) would be useful.
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