MERS-CoV numbers by area - UPDATE.

Let me preface this release with the statement "I hate doing this!" "This" being the use of data that are the best I can find, but not the best we could have. I've been spoilt by H7N9 which, at least initially, but not lately, was filled with dates. Seems like the only dates being publicly discussed in relation to MERS-CoV cases are those the bats may be contaminating.

However, the number of cases without any obvious dates of illness is steadily climbing towards half of all cases so I've decided to bite the bullet and make a second graph of MERS-CoV cases by site of infection to highlight the increases.

The new update uses Dates of Onset (DOO) where available but is augmented by Dates of Reporting (DOR) for the remainder (still missing 1 case). While this is inaccurate, it does serve the purpose of showing where the cases are accumulating from, and roughly how quickly that is happening, at each location.

As an example of how the two datasets compare, I've excised a part of my Excel sheet to show you that the trends (left column = new chart data DOO+DOR; right column = DOO data only) remain, even if the numbers change. It also highlights the biggest cluster of missing DOOs which dramatically to increase in number after the week beginning June 9th. Anyone know why or what changed?

The new chart, produced with my thanks for the extra dates found at Flu Wiki's MERS-CoV page, will be placed, in a larger size, above the current version that uses only DOOs, on my MERS-CoV page, and both will be kept updated.