Media reports say the death toll of the coronavirus has risen to 170 and the virus has reportedly now spread to every region in mainland China.
Chinese health authorities have said there were 7,711 confirmed cases in the country as of 29 January. Infections have reportedly also spread to at least 16 other countries.
According to the BBC, the World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting today discuss whether the virus constitutes a global health emergency.
"In the last few days the progress of the virus, especially in some countries, especially human-to-human transmission, worries us," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday, pointing to Germany, Vietnam and Japan.
"Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak."
The virus is thought to have emerged from illegally traded wildlife at a seafood market in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and where most cases and deaths have been reported.
Though there have been a handful of cases where it is thought to have spread between people – most of the confirmed cases are people who are from Wuhan or had close contact with someone who had been there.
