The victim is thought to have caught it from his dad who is believed to have picked it up during travels to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
More than 100 people have now been tested for the new Sars-like virus as it was revealedtoday that a man has become the first Briton to be killed by the illness.
The victim, 39, is thought to have caught the respiratory illness from his dad who is believed to have brought it back to the UK after picking it up during recent travels to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The dad is still being treated in a Manchester hospital.
A third family member has also been struck down with novel coronavirus but has recovered well enough to be cared for at home in the West Midlands.
Bosses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham said that the 39-year-old victim – who has not been named by officials – died in the critical care unit on Sunday morning.
He had a weakened immune system and was already being treated for an unrelated condition which experts say left him much more vulnerable to the infection.
There are now known to be four confirmed cases in Britain.
The fourth victim is a 49-year-old Qatari man who has been treated in a London hospital for five months after being flown here from his homeland for treatment.
In total 12 people worldwide have been struck down with the coronavirus – six of them are dead.
The Mirror revealed last week how the Health Protection Agency is scrambling to find everyone in the UK who sufferers here have been in contact with.
Family and friends of victims as well as medics and hospital administrative staff are among those who have now been tested for the virus.
At least six NHS workers are being “closely monitored” for signs of symptoms, sources have revealed.
Experts say evidence is mounting that the virus can be passed from person to person but the risk of the public being struck down is still said to be extremely small.
Professor John Watson, who is head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA, said: “The routes of transmission to humans of the novel coronavirus have not yet been fully determined, but the recent UK experience provides strong evidence of human-to-human transmission in at least some circumstances.
"The risk of infection in contacts in most circumstances is still considered to be low and the risk associated with novel coronavirus to the general UK population remains very low.”
The coronavirus family ranges from colds to Sars, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome. A global Sars outbreak in 2002 killed around 800 people.
This new strain causes pneumonia and sometimes kidney failure though it is not known exactly how the British man died.
Queen Elizabeth Hospital said: “The patient who died was immuno-compromised and is believed to have contracted the virus from a relative who is being treated for the condition in a Manchester hospital.”
The new strain, which emerged in the Middle East, has killed three people in Saudi Arabia and two in Jordan.
The World Health Organisation is trying to find the source of the strain which has been linked to bats.
Easy to spread, hard to treat
Coronavirus is spread by people coughing or sneezing and can cause fever, breathing difficulties, pneumonia and even kidney failure.
There is no specific vaccine or treatment for people unlucky enough to contract it.
It is unknown how the British victim died on Sunday, but the virus has now killed six of the 12 people exposed to it.
Fortunately, it is fragile outside the body and can live for just 24 hours.
It can also be killed by detergents and cleaning agents. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coronavirus-first-british-victim-sars-like-1719234
