Hundreds infected, 6 killed: Human transmission of mysterious coronavirus confirmed in China

Chinese health authorities confirmed late on Monday that some cases had been transmitted person-to-person, a development that means the illness could spread faster and more widely, particularly at the start of the Lunar New Year travel rush.

The number of people infected with a new virus in China tripled over the weekend, with the outbreak spreading from Wuhan to other major cities. There are now more than 200 cases, mostly in Wuhan, though the respiratory illness has also been detected in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Four people have reportedly died. Japan, Thailand and South Korea have reported cases.

People walk outside Beijing Railway Station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 20, 2020. China on Monday reported a mysterious SARS-like virus had spread across the country, including to Beijing, raising concerns as millions begin trips for the Lunar New Year. A third person was confirmed to have died, authorities said, as nearly 140 cases were announced.

People walk outside Beijing Railway Station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 20, 2020. Health authorities in Beijing’s Daxing district said two people who had travelled to Wuhan were treated for pneumonia linked to the virus and are in stable condition. The new coronavirus strain has caused alarm because of its connection to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital, where patients infected by a mysterious SARS-like virus are being treated, in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 18, 2020.

People walk outside Beijing Railway Station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 20, 2020.

People walk outside Beijing Railway Station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 20, 2020. A total of 201 people have now been diagnosed with the virus in China. In Wuhan, 170 people are still being treated at hospital, including nine in critical condition, the city health commission said.

A policeman wearing a mask walks past a quarantine notice about the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China at an arrival hall of Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, January 20, 2020.

A woman wearing a mask walks past a quarantine notice about the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China at an arrival hall of Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, January 20, 2020.

In Guangdong, a 66-year-old Shenzhen man was quarantined on January 11 after contracting a fever and showing other symptoms following a trip to visit relatives in Wuhan, the provincial health commission said in a statement. The World Health Organisation is convening an emergency committee of experts on Wednesday to assess whether the coronavirus outbreak in China constitutes an international emergency, the WHO said on January 20.

Wong Ka-hing, the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health holds a Wuhan Municipal Health Commission press statement of the new type of coronavirus, during a press conference at the Health Department in Hong Kong, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020. Health authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan are reporting the first death from a new type of coronavirus. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reported Saturday that seven other people are in critical condition.

A top Chinese expert on infectious diseases has confirmed human-to-human transmission of a SARS-like virus that has spread across the country and reached three other Asian nations, state media reported Monday. Zhong Nanshan, a renowned scientist at the national health commission who helped expose the scale of the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), said human-to-human transmission is "affirmative", said state broadcaster CCTV. "Currently, it can be said it is affirmative that there is the phenomenon of human-to-human transmission," he said in an interview with CCTV.