Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus - Global update was recorded by Global Incident Tracker on Wednesday, 24 December 2025 at 09:19 UTC. The event is classified as a epidemic incident with a severity rating of Severe, and was detected through the World Health Organization (WHO).
Since the beginning of 2025 and as of 21 December 2025, a total of 19 cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS- CoV), including four deaths have been reported to WHO globally. Of the 19 cases, 17 were reported by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and two were reported from France. Between 4 June and 21 December 2025, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of KSA reported a total of seven cases of MERS-CoV infection, including two deaths. In addition, at the beginning of December 2025, the National IHR Focal Point (IHR NFP) for France also reported two MERS-CoV travel – associated cases; involving individuals with recent travel to countries in the Arabian Peninsula. The notification of these latest cases does not change the overall risk assessment, which remains moderate at both the global and regional levels. These cases show that the virus continues to pose a threat in count
Where this happened
The incident is located in Saudi Arabia (Asia), whose capital is Riyadh. Historically, Saudi Arabia is most affected by flash floods, extreme heat and dust storms. You can follow every incident recorded in this country, updated live, on the Saudi Arabia incident tracker.
Approximate coordinates of the reported event are 23.900°, 45.100°. The marker on the map above shows this position; for news-derived reports the location reflects the place named in media coverage and may represent a district or city rather than an exact site.
Understanding epidemic events
Disease outbreaks including cholera, dengue, measles, Ebola and influenza. Outbreak trajectories depend on transmission route, population immunity and the speed of detection. Early case-finding, clean water and vaccination coverage change outcomes far more than late-stage restrictions.
How severity is rated
Global Incident Tracker rates every event on a four-step scale — Minor, Moderate, Severe and Extreme — derived from the source signal: earthquake magnitude, official GDACS alert colour, or the volume of independent media reporting for news-derived incidents. This event is currently rated Severe. Ratings can change as more information becomes available, and a rating is a monitoring signal rather than an official government assessment.
Safety guidance for epidemic situations
- Follow official case definitions and testing guidance rather than social-media claims.
- Prioritise clean water, hand hygiene and safe food handling during any outbreak.
- Keep routine vaccinations up to date; they carry most of the protective effect.
- Seek care early if you belong to a high-risk group.
- Follow only official instructions from local authorities and emergency services — this page is a monitoring record, not an emergency alert.
Data and verification
This record was generated automatically from the World Health Organization (WHO) and de-duplicated against our archive. Early reports for any incident can be revised: locations get refined, magnitudes are recalculated and impact figures change as assessments arrive. We deliberately do not publish casualty numbers unless an official source states them. The original source report is linked at the top of this page.
Keep watching the situation on our live world incident map, browse every epidemics and outbreaks we track on the Epidemic tracker, or see today's global picture on the incidents today page.
Timeline and sources
Officially recorded
An official record exists from World Health Organization. That confirms the event was recorded; figures quoted from news reports are not confirmed by it.
How statuses are decided · the number of reports is never treated as confirmation.
-
· received · event time 24 Dec 2025, 09:19 UTCFirst report Humanitarian agency report
First recorded from World Health Organization.
Times are when this site received each report, in UTC; the event time is shown where the source gave one. Copies of one syndicated story count as one report.
Conditions at the time
No rainfall was recorded that day, and the temperature peaked at 24°C.
Weather reanalysis for this location and date via Open-Meteo.