Virus compared with SARS not found in China

China has yet to report any human infection caused by a new member of the family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as SARS, the country's top disease-control department said on Thursday.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the new coronavirus, which causes respiratory symptoms that many fear is SARS-like in a patient in Qatar and killed another people in Saudi Arabia this year, has not been found in China.

And the center will be able to identify people infected with the virus in China using part of the virus' RNA sequence that was passed on by UK health authorities, said Wang Shiwen, an official of the center's viral disease prevention and control department.