Deadly MERS virus outbreak sends alarm bells ringing in Mideast

Saudi Arabia has reportedly confirmed an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS in the kingdom amid criticism that the nation wasn't doing enough to contain the deadly virus.

According to Wall Street Journal, the United Arab Emirates over the weekend separately announced six confirmed cases of MERS among paramedics there, one of whom died of the illness.

The rising cases of MERS in the country have resulted in widespread criticism directed at the Arab Gulf governments, who have been accused of not doing enough to contain the year and a half old outbreak.

A Saudi doctor at King Fahd General Hospital, the hardest hit by the increasing numbers of MERS cases this month, said that he wasn't sure whether the government was seeing how big this thing is.

The doctor said that patients were avoiding the hospital, and health workers were "very worried" after the MERS death of one colleague and sickness in another, adding that what she really wished for is to shut the whole hospital down until the spread subsides, the report added.