Saudi Arabia reports 3 cases of SARS-like virus

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry has confirmed three more cases of a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 10 the number of cases it reported this week, including five deadly ones.

The ministry said Friday the three cases were part of an ongoing investigation. It said the two men and one woman were aged between 33 and 53. Their symptoms first appeared over the past week.

The germ is from a family of viruses that cause the common cold, as well as SARS — the severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed some 800 people, mostly in Asia, in a 2003 epidemic.

Since September 2012, WHO has been informed of 24 confirmed cases. Sixteen of the patients died. The new virus was first identified last year in the Middle East.