Second person dies from new SARS-like virus in China

Jan. 17 (UPI) — A second person has died in China from a mysterious new pneumonia-like disease, Chinese health officials said.

Xiong Moumou, a 69-year-old man who fell ill with the disease on Dec. 31, died on Wednesday in Wuhan city, central China, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement Thursday.

He was transferred to Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital for treatment on Jan. 4 after his health further deteriorated, being admitted with abnormal renal function, pulmonary tuberculosis and damage to multiple organ functions, it said.

His death follows that of a 61-year-old man in Wuhan who died of the disease on Jan. 9.

The disease has been identified as a new coronavirus infection that the World Health Organization said is similar to the virus behind severe acute respiratory syndrome, better known as SARS, which killed hundreds of people in Hong Kong and mainland China from 2002 to 2003.

WHO said it believes the outbreak is associated with exposure to one seafood market in Wuhan, which has been closed since Jan. 1.

As of Thursday, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission has reported 41 chases of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus infection, 12 of which have been cured and discharged.

Five people are being treated as “severe cases,” it said.

Officials have traced 763 people who had come in contact with the infected, 644 of which have been removed from medical observations.

“Among the close contacts, no related cases were found,” the commission said.

However, Chinese patients with symptoms of the disease have been arriving at hospitals in Japan and Thailand, according to officials.

Japan confirmed its first case on Thursday, a 30-year-old Chinese man living in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo who had returned from a visit to Wuhan.

In Vietnam, a 22-year-old man and a 3-year-old boy are undergoing testing for the new coronavirus.