Beijing (AFP)

China announced on Tuesday a fourth dead victim of a mysterious virus similar to SARS and transmissible between humans, while the World Health Organization (WHO) was preparing to hold an emergency meeting.

Health officials said an 89-year-old man died of breathing difficulties in Wuhan (center), a city of 11 million people where the vast majority of infections have so far been reported. Across China, there have been more than 200.

The virus, of the SARS family (severe acute respiratory syndrome), now affects several major cities in the country - including Beijing and Shanghai - and three other Asian countries: Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Zhong Nanshan, a renowned Chinese scientist with the National Health Commission, said on Monday evening on public television CCTV that the transmission by contagion between people was "proven". It is the first time that such an assertion has been made publicly.

WHO estimates that an animal seems to be "the most likely primary source", with "limited human-to-human transmission through close contact".

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.

Zhong had helped assess the scale of the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003 that had hit China very hard.

- "Stop the disease" -

Out of 8,096 cases, the virus had killed 774 people worldwide, including 349 in mainland China and 299 in Hong Kong, according to the WHO. The international organization at the time strongly criticized China for having delayed raising the alarm and trying to conceal the scale of the epidemic.

In the middle of a crossroads in transport before the Chinese New Year on Saturday, which raises fears of an acceleration of the contaminations, President Xi Jinping gave on Monday the signal of a mobilization of the country.

He called for a halt to the epidemic, according to comments reported on national television. Xi said it was "absolutely crucial to do a good job in epidemiological prevention and control."

The instructions were quickly implemented.

Beijing announced on Tuesday that it is classifying the epidemic in the same category as SARS. Isolation thus becomes compulsory for persons diagnosed with the disease, and quarantine measures can be decreed.

The city of Wuhan recorded 15 contaminations among medical personnel on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday on the mysterious virus in Geneva.

An ad hoc committee is to meet at the organization's headquarters to determine whether to declare a "public health emergency of international concern", the organization announced on Monday.

WHO has so far used this term only in rare cases of epidemics requiring a vigorous international response, including Ebola fever, which affected part of West Africa from 2014 to 2016 and the DRC since 2018.

The concern is now perceptible abroad, where preventive measures are increasing at airports welcoming flights from Wuhan, especially in the United States, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia.

© 2020 AFP