PARIS - France is carrying out tests on another person suspected of being infected by the novel a new coronavirus.

Tests were carried out on three other people and were negative, the French Health Ministry said in a statement on its website.

“For one person, complementary examination is necessary,” the ministry said. “It is the person who shared the room of the first patient infected by the coronavirus from April 27 to April 29.”

France reported its first confirmed infection Tuesday. The patient had traveled to the Middle East, where the first cases of the virus were reported last year, according to the World Health Organization. Her roommate, a doctor and a nurse have been hospitalized for tests in Valenciennes, in northern France, radio station France Info reported.

Coronaviruses are a family of pathogens that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to severe acuterespiratory syndrome, or SARS, which sickened more than 8,000 people and killed 774 in 2002 and 2003, according to the WHO. While thenew virus is related to the one that causes SARS, it appears far appears to be far less less transmissible, the WHO has said.

Front Section, Pages 9 on 05/12/2013