A CORONAVIRUS that has killed at least 18 people in the Middle East and Europe could be passed between humans, but only after prolonged contact.

Yesterday, French authorities announced that a second man had been diagnosed with the disease after sharing a hospital room with France's only other sufferer.

Assistant director-general at the World Health Organisation (WHO), Keiji Fukuda, said there was no evidence so far that the virus was able to sustain "generalised transmission in communities", a scenario that would raise the spectre of a pandemic.

Speaking from Saudi Arabia, the site of the largest cluster of infections, Mr Fukuda added: "Of most concern is the fact that the different clusters seen in multiple countries increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact, this novel coronavirus can transmit from person to person."

A health expert said close contact meant being in the same small, enclosed space with an infected person for a prolonged period.

The virus first emerged in the Gulf last year, but deaths have been recorded in the UK and France among people recently in the Middle East. A total of 34 cases worldwide have been confirmed so far.

Saudi officials say of 15 confirmed cases in the most recent outbreak, in al-Ahsa district of Eastern Province, nine had died.