RIYADH: Two more people have died of swine flu bringing the total number of deaths from the deadly flu virus in the Kingdom to 16, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.

“The flu victims include a 40-year-old Saudi man and a 26-year-old Saudi woman,” Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Al-Mirghalani told Arab News. He said both patients had a history of chronic diseases. “They had been receiving treatment before the virus attack,” he said.

“Since May 27, hospitals in the Kingdom have treated approximately 2,000 cases of swine flu, and 95 percent of them have fully recovered and returned to normal life,” the official said.

He added that most fatalities in the Kingdom were patients with a history of chronic chest and lung diseases.

The first case of swine flu in the Kingdom was diagnosed in a Filipino nurse who returned to Riyadh following her annual vacation in the Philippines. The spokesman said so far there have been 16 deaths due to swine flu, 13 of them Saudis. The foreign nationals were identified as an Indonesian maid, a Sri Lankan who came on a business visit to Riyadh from Dubai and an Indian expatriate. The official said most of the cases were aged between 10 and 35 years.

Al-Mirghalani said the majority of swine flu cases in the Kingdom were people who contracted the disease from residents and expatriates coming from foreign countries.