Photo: VCG

Local health authority in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, reported on Saturday that the viral pneumonia outbreak, caused by a new kind of coronavirus, claimed the first life while seven continue to ail in severe condition. 

As of Friday, 41 cases of pneumonia have been identified with two discharged from the hospital, and the first death was of a 61-year-old male patient diagnosed with abdominal tumor and chronic liver disease, according to an official statement of Wuhan Municipal Health Commission. The deceasedfrequently purchased goods from a local seafood market, the statement added. 

This is the first death in the new pneumonia outbreak. 

Chinese experts recently identified a new type of coronavirus as the cause of   pneumonia, noting that the virus' genome and nucleic acid does not take long to be identified, but it requires weeks to separate the virus and identify its pathogenicity, and years to develop medicine and vaccine against it.

The patient died Thursday following respiratory circulation failure, the authority said. And no new cases have been detected since January 3. 

As of now, no member of the medical staff have been diagnosed with infections, and no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission has been found, according to the statement. 

China has set up a robust mechanism to prevent epidemics based on a wealth of experiences in dealing with SARS in 2003 and has been enhancing the transparency of information disclosure related to public health issues. 

Global Times