RT:

World Health Organization (WHO) officials are on alert after two confirmed cases and one suspected case of a new virus from the same family as SARS appeared in Saudi Arabia last week. Doctors are watching for any sign the disease may spread.

The cases involve a coronavirus (named for the corona, or halo, visible around the virus under a microscope) that causes severe pneumonia and kidney failure in patients. One of the confirmed cases is a 49 year-old man in intensive care in a London hospital after being evacuated by air-ambulance to Britain from Qatar on September 11.

The other two confirmed cases have already died.

………

The discovery of the new virus comes at a potentially hazardous time; on the eve of the Hajj, the Islamic holy pilgrimage to the city of Mecca.  Saudi Arabia opened its borders to pilgrims on September 17, but the real influx of pilgrims is set for the end of October. Last year, almost 2 million Muslims from around the world completed the rite.

WHO officials are not imposing any travel restrictions at the moment, despite the potential for the new virus to go global.

More