China confirms that the new coronavirus can spread from one person to person. According to a Chinese government-appointed expert, the mysterious respiratory virus has killed at least three people and sickened more than 200 in China.
Chinese scientists on January 8 identified the pathogen as a new strain of coronavirus, in the same family of the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, and cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
The pneumonia outbreak emerged last month in Wuhan, the largest city in central China and a major transportation hub.
It was traced by health officials to a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, was primarily passed from animals to humans and has been closed since January 1 to prevent further spread of the illness.
Chinese authorities said 224 patients with the coronavirus had been identified, including 217 confirmed cases and seven suspected ones.
The outbreak comes as hundreds of millions of Chinese prepare to travel across the country and around the world to celebrate the Lunar New Year later this week.
Most patients diagnosed with the virus have presented with relatively mild symptoms, Health authorities in Wuhan said on Monday that 25 patients had been released from hospital after recovering from the infection.
Earlier on Monday, Chinese authorities reported that the number of cases had tripled over the weekend to 218.
The outbreak has spread to Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzen, hundreds of miles from Wuhan, where the virus first surfaced.
According to the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a 35-year-old Chinese woman was detected by temperature screening upon arriving Sunday at Seoul's Incheon International Airport from Wuhan.
She has been quarantined and is in a stable condition, the CDC told the press.
The woman, a Wuhan resident, who had planned to go on holiday in South Korea and Japan with five family members, said she developed a fever and muscle pains on Saturday and was prescribed cold medicine by a doctor in Wuhan, according to the CDC.
The World Health Organization has advised people to avoid "unprotected" contact with live animals, thoroughly cook meat and eggs, and avoid close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms.
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