23 September 2012 – On 22 September 2012, the United Kingdom (UK) informed WHO of a case of acute respiratory syndrome with renal failure with travel history to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The case is a previously healthy, 49-year-old male Qatari national that presented with symptoms on 3 September 2012 with travel history to Saudi Arabia prior to onset of illness. On 7 September he was admitted to an intensive care unit in Doha, Qatar. On 11 September, he was transferred to the UK by air ambulance from Qatar. The Health Protection Agency of the UK conducted laboratory testing and has confirmed the presence of a novel coronavirus.
The Health Protection Agency has compared the sequencing of the virus isolate from the 49-year-old Qatari national with that of a virus sequenced previously by the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Netherlands. This latter isolate was obtained from lung tissue of a fatal case earlier this year in a 60-year-old Saudi national. This comparison indicated 99.5% identity, with one nucleotide mismatch over the regions compared.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which includes viruses that cause the common cold and SARS. Given that this is a novel coronavirus, WHO is currently in the process of obtaining further information to determine the public health implications of these two confirmed cases.
With respect to these findings, WHO does not recommend any travel restrictions.