Saudi Arabia reports one more death from new virus

Saudi Arabia says a man has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 63 the deaths in the kingdom at the center of the outbreak.

The Health Ministry said Friday the latest victim, a 19-year-old, died in the city of al-Kharj, southeast of Riyadh. Two of his sisters are in hospital on suspicion they have been infected with the virus. If they prove to be positive, it would further raise the number of people infected.

So far, 150 people have been infected in the kingdom since September 2012.

The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

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