Deadly new coronavirus a "serious risk" in hospitals: Saudi study

LONDON (REUTERS) - The new Middle East coronavirus that has killed 38 people after emerging late last year is a serious risk in hospitals because it is easily transmitted in healthcare environments, infectious disease experts said on Wednesday.

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers said the Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) was not only easily transmitted from patient to patient, but also from the transfer of sick patients to other hospitals.

Nine infected patients in Saudi Arabia had received dialysis treatment at the same hospital, some at the same time.

The international investigative team of specialists, who went to Saudi Arabia to analyse the outbreak in May, said it was even more deadly than a similar outbreak of Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, in Canadian hospitals in 2003.