A new viral illness that has infected hundreds and caused at least nine deaths could mutate and spread further, Chinese health authorities have warned.
There are 440 confirmed cases of coronavirus according to Li Bin, deputy director of the National Health Commission.
“There has already been human-to-human transmission and infection of medical workers,” Mr Li said at a news conference with health experts.
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“Evidence has shown that the disease has been transmitted through the respiratory tract and there is the possibility of viral mutation.”
He went on to advise people not to travel into and out of the city of Wuhan, according to the BBC, adding: ”Basically, do not go to Wuhan. And those in Wuhan please do not leave the city.”
Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital in Wuhan. China has confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans, with medical workers currently among the infected
Getty
Officials say the number of confirmed cases of the new and mysterious virus has risen sharply above 200
EPA
The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub
AFP via Getty
Cases also being reported in Japan, Thailand and South Korea
EPA
Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea
EPA
A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans
Getty
Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China
AFP via Getty
The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths
EPA
Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
AFP via Getty
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
AP
A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market
AFP via Getty
Medical staff and security personnel stop patients’ family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
AP
A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China
Reuters
Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang
AP
Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital
AFP via Getty
A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty
Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport
EPA
Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
Reuters
Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading “face masks are sold out” at her pharmacy in Shanghai
AP
The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center,
EPA
A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan
Reuters
A notice for passengers from Wuhan
Getty
A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
Getty
Passengers walk past a thermal scanner upon their arrival at Narita airport
Getty
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
Passengers wearing masks enter the Beijing West Railway Station
Reuters
Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital in Wuhan. China has confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans, with medical workers currently among the infected
Getty
Officials say the number of confirmed cases of the new and mysterious virus has risen sharply above 200
EPA
The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub
AFP via Getty
Cases also being reported in Japan, Thailand and South Korea
EPA
Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea
EPA
A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans
Getty
Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China
AFP via Getty
The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths
EPA
Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
AFP via Getty
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
AP
A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market
AFP via Getty
Medical staff and security personnel stop patients’ family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
AP
A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China
Reuters
Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang
AP
Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital
AFP via Getty
A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty
Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport
EPA
Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
Reuters
Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading “face masks are sold out” at her pharmacy in Shanghai
AP
The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center,
EPA
A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan
Reuters
A notice for passengers from Wuhan
Getty
A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
Getty
Passengers walk past a thermal scanner upon their arrival at Narita airport
Getty
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
Passengers wearing masks enter the Beijing West Railway Station
Reuters
The cornavirus, which causes pneumonia, comes from a family of viruses that can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as the Sars outbreak, which spread from China to more than a dozen countries between 2002-2003 and killed around 800 people.
Four cases have been confirmed in Thailand, while Japan, South Korea and the United States have each reported one case. All of those who fell ill were people from Wuhan or those who had recently travelled to the city.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong and Macau also reported their first cases.
“The situation is under control here,” Thailand’s public health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said, adding there were no reports of the infection spreading to others. “We checked all of them: taxi drivers, people who wheeled the wheelchairs for the patients, doctors and nurses who worked around them.”
A chart showing the spread of the coronavirus, compared to Sars and Mers, by Statista
Travel agencies organising trips to North Korea said the country had banned foreign tourists because of the outbreak. Most tourists to North Korea are Chinese or travel to the country through neighbouring China.
Other countries have stepped up screening measures for travellers from China, especially those arriving from Wuhan. Worries have been heightened by the coming of the Lunar New Year holiday rush, when millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad.
“We are still in the process of learning more about this disease.” Gao Fu, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control said at the news conference.
Mr Gao said officials are working on the assumption the outbreak resulted from human exposure to wild animals being sold illegally at a food market in Wuhan and the virus is mutating. Mutations can make the virus spread faster or make people sicker .
World Health Organisation provides information on Coronavirus
Jiao Yahui, a health commission official, said “the disease will continue to develop. It has developed different features compared with the early stage, and the prevention and precautionary measures need to change accordingly.”
Earlier this week, health officials confirmed the disease can spread between humans after finding two infected people in Guangdong province, in southern China, who had not been to Wuhan.
Fifteen medical workers also tested positive for the virus, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission has said.
Fourteen of them, one doctor and 13 nurses, were infected by a patient who had been hospitalised for neurosurgery but also had the coronavirus.
“This is a very profound lesson, which is that there must not be any cracks in our prevention and control,” Wuhan’s mayor, Zhou Xianwang, said about the infections of the medical workers in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV .
Additional reporting by agencies