The World Health Organization has issued an alert on a new SARS-like virus after a Qatari man became infected.
The United Nations health body, which issued a statement through its "global alert and response" system, said tests on the patient, a 49-year-old Qatari man, confirmed the presence of a new, or novel, coronavirus.Only in the Middle East so far.
It said the U.K. scientists compared gene sequences of the virus from the Qatari patient with samples of virus sequenced by Dutch scientists from lung tissue of a fatal case earlier this year in a 60-year-old Saudi Arabia national. The two were almost identical, it said.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which includes the common cold and SARS.
"Given that this is a novel coronavirus, WHO is currently in the process of obtaining further information to determine the public health implications," the statement said.
A statement by U.K. government experts said the symptoms included fever, cough or other respiratory symptoms.
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