RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia says one more man has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 40 the number of deadly cases in the kingdom at the centre of the growing outbreak.

The Saudi Health Ministry said Sunday the 51-year-old man who died in Riyadh was also suffering from cancer and other chronic diseases, while tests of two new suspected cases involving two Saudi men in the southwestern province of Asir proved positive.

The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.