SPREADING

New Coronavirus Outbreak Kills 2 in China, Spreads to Japan and Thailand

The virus has left 41 people hospitalized with pneumonia.

A second person has died from pneumonia stemming from the outbreak of a previously unknown Sars-like virus in China, local authorities said. A 69-year-old man was admitted a hospital in Wuhan, China, with abnormal renal function and severe damage to multiple organs, the Wuhan municipal health commission said. He later died on Jan. 15. The Guardian reports that at least 41 people have been hospitalized with pneumonia linked to the new virus. Chinese state media reported that preliminary testing has indicated that the new virus could be a type of coronavirus, a group of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome. In addition to the dozens infected in China, a man in his 30s was diagnosed with the virus in Japan, and a Chinese woman in Thailand has been quarantined. Authorities in Wuhan said a seafood market was the center of the outbreak, which closed on Jan. 1.