WHO Reports Two More Deaths From SARS-like Novel Coronavirus (VIDEO)

The deaths of two more people have been linked to a mysterious SARS-like virus that has already claimed the lives nine others and sickened six more.

The World Health Organization reported the latest deaths associated with the virus as a 73-year-old male from the United Arab Emirates who died in Germany after being flown there for treatment, and an unidentified patient in the United Kingdom who the WHO said was an index patient who brought the virus to the U.K. after traveling to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The novel coronavirus can cause respiratory infections and is in the same virus family as the common cold and SARS, which was named for the symptoms: Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

While the WHO is cautious of the new virus, it does not appear to be as worrisome as SARS, a near pandemic outbreak which caused 775 deaths worldwide between November 2002 and December 2003.

"Although this novel coronavirus is distantly related to the SARS CoV, the two viruses are different. Based on current information, it does not appear to transmit easily or sustainably between people, unlike the SARS virus," said a WHO statement.

There has yet to be a reported case of the novel coronavirus infecting anyone in the U.S., and the virus is not readily transmitted person-to-person, according to Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., who spoke to ABC News.

"We're on the alert looking for this, and I think that's why these cases are now being discovered, because people with puzzling pneumonia who we can't figure out what's going on right away are having specimens taken and sent to the reference lab for testing," said Schaffner.