London: The World Health Organization has said that the novel coronavirus (NCoV) may be passed between people in close contact.
According to a recent WHO update, there have been 33 confirmed cases across Europe and the Middle East since 2012, with 18 deaths.
Cases have also been seen in Saudi Arabia and Jordan and have spread to Germany, the UK and France.
France`s second confirmed case was a 50-year-old man, who shared a room in a hospital in Valenciennes, northern France, with a 65-year-old who fell ill with the virus after returning from Dubai.
Novel coronavirus is from the same family of viruses like the one that caused an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) in 2003, however they both are different from each other.
Respiratory infections to both humans and animals can be caused by the novel coronavirus.
But it is not yet clear whether it is a mutated form of an existing virus or an infection in animals that made the jump to humans.
ANI
