Man infected with mysterious virus in China dies after outbreak

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2020 05:58:33 +0000

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A 61-year-old man has died from pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in an outbreak of a yet to be identified virus while seven others are in critical condition, Wuhan health authorities said on Saturday.

In total, 41 people have been diagnosed with the pathogen, which preliminary lab tests cited by Chinese state media earlier this week pointed to a new type of coronavirus, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement on its website.

Two of them have been discharged from hospital and the rest are in stable condition, while 739 people deemed to have been in close contact with the patients have been cleared, it said.

The man who died was a regular buyer at the seafood market, who had been previously diagnosed with abdominal tumors and chronic liver disease, it said.

Treatments did not improve his symptoms after he was admitted to hospital and he died on the evening of Jan. 9 when his heart failed.

The commission added that no new cases had been detected since Jan. 3.

The Wuhan health authority also said that the patients were mainly vendors and purchasers at a seafood market inthe city, and that to date no medical staff had been infected, nor had clear evidence of human-to-human transmission been found.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that a newly emerging member of the family of viruses that caused the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreaks could be the cause of the present outbreak.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to SARS. Some of the vi
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