A three-year-old California girl has been hospitalised for a month with the coronavirus, but it is a different and less severe strain than the deadly virus that has killed at least 17 in China.

Aliyah Cardoza, from Azusa, was admitted to hospital on December 23 with what appeared to be common flu symptoms including a fever and a cough that escalated to a diagnosis of coronavirus, Mycoplasma, acute respiratory syndrome and pneumonia.

A month later, Aliyah is intubated at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles with a breathing tube and a chest tube, her mother Gloria Aguilera said.

Aliyah was diagnosed with the NL63 strain of the coronavirus, a family of viruses that span from common cold-like symptoms to severe respiratory diseases.

The NL63 strain is different than the 2019-nCoV strain, also known as the Novel Coronavirus, that killed 17 people and sickened hundreds in China, leading the country to send three cities into lockdown to stop it from spreading.

more at dailymail.co.uk