The Supreme Council of Health is calling for calm following reports that a Qatari man is critically ill with a new SARS-like virus, according to local media.

In a press conference last night, SCH officials say more information is needed.

“The one we heard today is the only case detected in Qatar until now. All members of his family have been tested, but none of them were found affected,” Dr Mohammed Al Thani, director of the SCH’s Public Health Department said, as reported by the Peninsula. 

“We still cannot say whether it will spread through human contact, or if it is curable,” added Al Thani.

Meanwhile, British health officials are investigating the death of a third person who was treated for a respiratory illness in the UK in recent months, but so far say there are only two confirmed cases of the new virus – which fatally affected a 60-year-old Saudi man and has now left a 49-year-old Qatari man in critical condition.

“This is a new virus,” a World Health Organization official told Reuters yesterday. “We don’t know how it’s transmitted.” The WHO issued an alert about the existence of the new virus on Sunday.

But encouragingly, there has be no evidence of illness in people who came into contact with the patients, including healthcare workers, British health officials said.