‘Sars-like’ coronavirus identified in England
By Hafsa Fallah
Morocco News Tribune
Manchester, England—British Health officials announced Monday that an unnamed patient who returned recently from the Middle East and Pakistan is receiving intensive care treatment in a Manchester hospital after he was believed to be infected with a new type of coronavirus from the same family as SARS.
“Prof John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency (HPA), told BBC “The HPA is providing advice to healthcare workers to ensure the patient under investigation is being treated appropriately and that healthcare staff who are looking after the patient are protected. Contacts of the case are also being followed up to check on their health, “.
This latest case that is receiving treatment in Manchester brings the total number of confirmed cases globally to 10, of which two have been diagnosed in the UK.
“This new coronavirus was first identified in September 2012 in a patient who died from a severe respiratory infection in June 2012. The virus has so far only been identified in a small number of cases of acute, serious respiratory illness who presented with fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties,” a press released by HPA said.
In Europe, A patient from Qatar was treated in Germany but has since been discharged.
Globally, five people died of the infectious disease in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.