Italy has reported its first case of the SARS coronavirus on Friday while the World Health Organization said the global death toll from a SARS-like virus has risen to 30.
Italy's first SARS coronavirus (nCoV) related death is 45-year-old man who had travelled in Jordan for 40 days and fell ill upon returning to his home country. Italy's health minister said he was hospitalized in Tuscany, but was in a stable condition, Reuters notes.
The man, whose identity was not released, was suffering from a high fever, a cough and breathing difficulties when he decided to go to the hospital. Saudi Arabia has been the most affected by the virus since the first reported case back in March. The World Health Organization said there are already 30 deaths out of 50 reported cases.
In all, eight countries that have been affected by the virus, including Tunisia, Jordan, Britain, and France, where earlier this week a 65-year-old man died of the virus - the first patient in France to die from the condition.
"So far all the cases have a connection to the Arabian Peninsula," World Health Organization spokesperson Gregory Hartl told to Voice of America. "The initial cases in France and in the U.K. and in Tunisia all had a travel history associated with somewhere on the Arabian Peninsula and then once they got back to their home countries there was a very limited person-to-person transmission."
The novel coronavirus can cause respiratory infections and is in the same virus family as the common cold and SARS, which was named for the symptoms: Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
At this time, the WHO has not recommended travel or trade restrictions.
