The coronavirus-type infection recorded in a 28-year-old man in Al Ain on June 8 showed that the camel-linked Middle East respiratory syndrome, or Mers, continues to be a health risk.

It was the first reported case of the virus in 2023, with the majority of all known cases having links to the Middle East.

Despite the world’s attention shifting towards Covid-19, and related pathogens that continue to circulate, the latest World Health Organisation report on Mers shows that the coronavirus is still on the wane.