Saudi Arabia has confirmed 113 previously unrecorded cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a deadly disease. With this revelation, the total number of confirmed MERS cases has increased to 688 in the kingdom state.

The Health Ministry has recently released a statement saying that the MERS toll has increased from 190 to 282. All this announced following the Saudi government's review of fresh health data.

The government has reviewed all availiable data since 2012, coinciding with the illness's discovery. According to the data released by the government, as many as 53 patients are still undergoing treatment for MERS, while another 353 have recuperated.

In addition, the Saudi Health Ministry is making an effort to improve data collection as well as regiment the process in which information is being analyzed at present.

According to experts, the Saudi officials have been communicating as well as handling data in a very poor manner thus far. They said that the outbreak of MERS and number of deaths due to the contagion would have been much lower, provided the Saudi officials sought help from other countries in dealing with the crisis. Moreover, the spread of the disease would have also reduced within the last two years, they prospected.

In an email statement, Tariq Madani, who heads the Health Ministry's scientific advisory board, said, "While the review has resulted in a higher total number of previously unreported cases, we still see a decline in the number of new cases reported over the past few weeks."

Apart from the new discovery regarding the number of confirmed MERS cases in the country, Saudi Arabia has also sacked its Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish for his negligence towards the MERS outbreak.

It may be noted that MERS is a virus with symptoms that include coughing, fever and sometimes fatal pneumonia. The likely origin of the virus is said to stem from camels.