At least five people have died and two others now in critical condition after getting infected with a new SARS-like virus in Saudi Arabia.

The World Health Organisation confirmed on Thursday it has received an advisory from Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry regarding the development.

Preliminary investigations made by the Saudi government showed no indication of recent travel or animal contact by any of the seven confirmed cases.

The novel coronavirus (NCoV) comes from the family of viruses that led to the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Asia which killed 800 people. It leads to pneumonia and sometimes trigger kidney failure.

According to health experts, the new coronavirus is most closely related to a bat virus. They are now investigating whether the seven people got contact with bats or other animals like goats or camels.

On Wednesday, the Saudi Health Ministry said in a statement that all seven latest cases of confirmed nCoV infections came from al-Ahsa governorate east of the country.

A global total of 24 laboratory confirmed cases of human infections with nCoV, including 16 deaths, have now been recorded since September 2012, according to the WHO. These cases were detected in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and the UK.

WHO advised countries to test any people with unexplained pneumonia, noting the virus is probably more widespread.