Beijing: Even as the global community is clueless on how to deal with the rapidly spreading coronavirus contagion, news of a new virus rearing its ugly head in China is causing enough consternation. According to some media reports, the new virus is named Hantavirus and has been pronounced as deadly. A man from China’s Yunnan province succumbed to it within hours of testing positive for this virus.

As per a report published in China’s Global Times, the victim was travelling on a bus on his way back to Shandong province when his end came.

The report also reveals further details of 32 more people, suspected to have been infected by the virus, being tested. They are anxiously waiting for the test results even as the news comes in as a double-whammy for the entire world, already reeling under COVID-19 pandemic.

The news report of the Hantavirus death soon went viral on social media creating unwarranted panic.

About Hantavirus

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes it as a virus that is mainly spread by rodents, leading to varied diseases among humans.

But the most crucial distinction of Hantavirus from Coronavirus is that it does not spread from human to human. A person can get infected if he has touched his eyes, nose or mouth after touching rodent droppings, urine or their nesting material.

However, the symptoms are very similar to that of COVID-19 like fever, abdominal pain and headache besides others.

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