SHANGHAI: Health authorities in central China reported the first death from a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has been blamed on a new strain of virus from the same family as SARS.

Out of 41 people diagnosed with the new type of coronavirus in the city of Wuhan where it was first confirmed, one had died, two were discharged from treatment, and seven remained in serious condition, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement.

Authorities had earlier said that 59 people were affected by the pneumonia outbreak. The commission’s new statement said, however, that just 41 had been diagnosed with the new coronavirus. The outbreak has caused alarm due to the link to SARS, or Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed 349 people in mainland China and another 299 in Hong Kong more than a decade ago. Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) have both said that a new coronavirus was to blame.