NEW DELHI, Jan 23 — An Indian nurse working in Saudi Arabia has tested positive for the SARS-like virus that has infected hundreds in China, the Indian foreign ministry said today.

Indian media reports said that the nurse may have contracted the virus while caring for a colleague from the Philippines who had tested positive.

However, neither Riyadh nor Delhi have reported any cases of the virus in their respective countries. 

"About 100 Indian nurses... working at Al-Hayat hospital have been tested and none except one nurse was found infected by Corona virus,” said minister of state for foreign affairs, V. Muraleedharan.

"Affected nurse is being treated at Aseer National Hospital and is recovering well,” he tweeted. 

Muraleedharan confirmed to AFP that it was the same respiratory virus that has claimed 17 lives since emerging in Wuhan, infecting more than 570 of other people nationwide.

It has since been detected in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the United States. — AFP