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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that a new coronavirus strain could be passed human human. The virus, called nCoV-EMC, looks like an offshoot the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed 775 people and infected 8,273 2002-03. However, the WHO was quick to point that the new strain isn't as virulent as SARS. The warning came the 34th case worldwide came to light Sunday. A man is a "very serious but stable" condition an intensive care unit France. It is believed he contracted the virus while vacationing in Dubai in April. The new coronavirus has already claimed the lives 18 people, 15 of the fatalities being Saudi Arabia.

Coronavirus causes respiratory illnesses both humans and animals. Unlike SARS, which spread birds and animals humans, the new strain could have mutated to spread people. A WHO spokesman, Keiji Fukuda, told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh Sunday that the new virus posed an "important and major challenge" for those countries already affected and the whole world. He stressed that while the new virus was not SARS, it was very worrying. He said: " most concern is the fact that the different clusters seen multiple countries increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact, this coronavirus can transmit person person".