China makes move to handle new coronavirus

BEIJING - China has taken an active stance in preventing an epidemic of a new type of coronavirus, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

The ministry has set up a team of experts, composed of specialists in fields such as epidemiology, medical treatment and laboratory testing, to research and assess risks associated with the new coronavirus.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses including viruses that cause the common cold and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The ministry said it has not ruled out the possibility of the entry of the coronavirus, and it plans to train its officials at provincial disease control centers and port cites on coronavirus laboratory testing techniques.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that a Qatari man hospitalized for acute respiratory syndrome due to a new type of coronavirus is currently in critical condition.

The 49-year-old Qatari man began showing symptoms on September 3, and he had traveled to Saudi Arabia prior to the onset of illness. He was transferred to Britain on September 11 and laboratory tests there confirmed the presence of a novel coronavirus, according to the WHO.

A spokesman for the WHO denied that there was a link between this case and that of a 60-year-old Saudi man who died of an almost identical virus three months ago.