A second COVID-19 pandemic could be in the making.

The authorities of the United Arab Emirates reported a mysterious new case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a lethal virus killing between 13% and 35% of those infected.

A statement by the World Health Organization announced a new confirmed case of MERS, The Gateway Pundit reports.

The cases, which ended up with the 28-year-old male patient put on a ventilator in an intensive care ward, occurred on June 21. That was his nasopharyngeal swab tested positive for the deadly virus.

MERS was initially spotted in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Since then, the WHO has registered a total of 2,605 infections, with 936 resulting in deaths, a 35% death ratio.

In the United Arab Emirates, there have been 94 MERS cases, including this new one, since the first was registered in June 2013. Of those, 12 resulted in deaths with a 13% death ratio.

The new MERS case seems quite mysterious as the patient is a non-UAE national residing in Al Ain city who didn’t have any contact with risk animals, such as sheep, goats, or camels.

The patient went to a private health clinic and his symptoms involving right flank pain, vomiting, and dysuria, between June 3 and June 7. He deteriorated quickly and had to be hospitalized on June 8 with sepsis, acute kidney injury, and acute pancreatitis.

The young man then had to be transferred to a specialized government hospital’s intensive care on June 13 and was placed on mechanical ventilation.

The UAE health authorities claim to have traced his contacts thoroughly, discovering no household or family member contacts in the country.

A total of 108 contacts were identified and monitored for two weeks, since their last exposure to the MERS patient. No secondary cases were detected.

The report points out the disease caused by the Middle East coronavirus could cause fever, shortness of breath, cough, pneumonia, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal symptoms.

As MERS is a zoonotic virus, one transmitted from animals to humans, the new UAE is quite mysterious. While human-to-human infections have been observed, those have occurred almost only in healthcare facilities or among close contacts.

It is noted the WHO monitors the MERS situation as the potential for another COVID-19-style pandemic – unfortunately – seems quite tangible.