SARS-like virus spreading in China

Medical staff carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital, where patients infected by the mysterious virus are being treated. Pic/AFP

Beijing: A mysterious SARS-like virus spread around China has fuelled fears of a major outbreak as millions begin travelling for the Lunar New Year in humanity's biggest migration."

The new coronavirus strain, first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has caused alarm because of its connection to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

Wuhan has 11 million inhabitants and serves as a major transport hub, including during the annual Lunar New Year holiday which begins later this week and sees hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel across the country to visit family.

A third person was confirmed to have died and 136 new cases were found over the weekend in Wuhan, the local health commission said, taking the total number of people to have been diagnosed with the virus in China to 201.

South Korea on Monday reported its first case - a 35-year-old woman who flew in from Wuhan.

201
Total no. of people diagnosed with SARS in China so far

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