Beijing (AFP)

China reported on Sunday 17 new cases of the mysterious virus that appeared in Wuhan and of the same family as SARS, including three patients in serious condition, which is fueling concerns a few days away from the great Chinese New Year crossbreeders .

The epidemic also raises fears of a new crisis like the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), highly contagious, which had killed 650 people in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

Of the 17 new isolated cases in the city of Wuhan, which is thought to be the primary focus of the disease, three were presented as "serious". Two of these patients are in too critical a condition to be moved.

These infected people are between 30 and 79 years old.

City officials say the virus has now infected 62 people in Wuhan, including eight who are still in serious condition and 19 who have been treated and released from hospital. The rest are still treated in isolation.

Two people died after contracting the virus, including a 69-year-old man who died on Wednesday. Falling ill on December 31, he saw his health worsen five days later.

Scientists at a research college at Imperial College in London, which advises institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO), however, estimated in an article published Friday that the virus had probably infected many more people. than the authorities say. They estimated, based on all the information available as of January 12, that the figure of 1,723 people infected was much more likely.

Authorities in Wuhan said on Sunday that some of the infected patients had had no contact with a city market specializing in the wholesale of seafood and fish which is at the center of all suspicion.

No human-to-human contamination has yet been confirmed, but the Wuhan health department said the risk "could not be excluded".

Three cases have been confirmed abroad, including two in Thailand and one in Japan.

The offending strain is a new type of coronavirus, a family with a large number of viruses. They can cause mild illnesses in humans (like a cold) but also other more serious ones like Sras.

© 2020 AFP