Public warned not to drop their guard over mystery China virus after tests rule out Sars or bird flu
- Health authorities in Wuhan continue to work to identify viral pneumonia that has so far infected 59 people in the central Chinese city
- Hong Kong authorities say six more suspected cases have been reported, raising total in city to 21, but links to the unknown illness have been ruled out
On Monday the local health authorities in Wuhan said that work to identify the virus, which has so far infected 59 people in the city, was continuing, but that Sars, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) and certain types of flu had been ruled out.
Hong Kong health authorities said that the number of suspected cases in the city had reached 21, with six more being reported between Sunday and noon on Monday.
All those affected had visited the Hubei capital and developed pneumonia-related symptoms, including a two-year-old boy and a female Chinese University student.
The Centre for Health Protection said that the student was found to have common viruses unrelated to the Wuhan cases, including a type of coronavirus, while the other five new cases were found to have flu or other kinds of known viruses. Seven people have already been discharged from hospital.
So far, test results show that none of the cases reported outside mainland China – including one recent case in Singapore – were related to the Wuhan virus.