LONDON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed a further case of novel coronavirus infection on Wednesday, in a family member of the case announced earlier, providing "strong evidence" for person-to-person transmission.
According to the HPA, the patient is currently receiving intensive care treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. Unlike other confirmed cases, the patient does not have any recent travel history, which "suggests that person-to-person transmission has occurred, and that it occurred in the UK."
Professor John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA, said: "This case is a family member who was in close personal contact with the earlier case and who may have been at greater risk of acquiring an infection because of their underlying health condition."
He added that although this case provides strong evidence for person-to-person transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still considered to be very low. "If novel coronavirus were more infectious, we would have expected to have seen a larger number of cases than we have seen since the first case was reported three months ago."
This latest case brings the total number of confirmed cases globally to 11, of which three have been diagnosed in Britain.
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