The first case in this outbreak - "patient zero" - was a 68-year-old man who was diagnosed after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia. He is still in hospital.Mers - which stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome - can cause fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure.Experts believe it is not very contagious. Tan Wenjie, director of the virus department at the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, said Mers could only spread "via close contact in a confined space"."And no evidence proves that it can spread through air, so people need not to feel panic," he added.There have been 1,167 cases of Mers worldwide, of which 479 have resulted in death, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.Nurses at a hospital in China reportedly drew lots to determine who should treat the country's first case of Mers.The virus has a death rate of 27%, according to the World Health Organization.