08:15, 17 January 2020 | GMT +6
China announces 2nd death from new coronavirus
BEIJING. KAZINFORM Local authorities in central China's city of Wuhan said Thursday that a 69-year-old man died the previous day of pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths linked to the virus to two, Kyodo reports.
The man had been hospitalized in the city since he developed symptoms of pneumonia on Dec. 31. He died early on Wednesday, the authorities said.
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As of Wednesday, 41 people had been diagnosed with the respiratory disease with five in critical condition, while 12 were discharged from hospitals, they said.
Coronaviruses usually cause common-cold symptoms, infecting the nose, sinuses or upper throat, and are spread through sneezing, coughing or direct contact.
However, some types lead to more serious, sometimes deadly respiratory diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome or Middle East respiratory syndrome, commonly known as SARS and MERS, respectively.