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The government also reported five cases in Hong Kong and two in Macau. Cases have also been found scattered across Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the US, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France and Canada, as well as five confirmed cases in Australia.
The newly identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people.
It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called the outbreak a grave situation.
Chinese vendors wear protective masks as they sell vegetables in the street during the Chinese New Year holiday on Sunday in Beijing.Credit:Getty Images
The ability of the new coronavirus to spread is strengthening, and infections could continue to rise, China's National Health Commission said on Sunday.
"Transmissibility is increasing," Health Minister Ma Xiaowei told a packed media briefing on Sunday. "The outbreak has come to a severe and complicated situation."
He added that there could "still be new developments" as the virus mutates. "We still don't know the risks of transformation," he said.
The incubation period for the virus could range from one to 14 days and the virus was infectious during incubation, which was not the case with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), he said.
A Chinese couple at the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing.Credit:Getty Images
SARS was a coronavirus that originated in China and killed nearly 800 people globally in 2002 and 2003.
Containment efforts, which have thus far included transportation and travel curbs and the cancellation of big events, would be intensified, Ma said.
The virus is believed to have originated late last year in a seafood market that was illegally selling wildlife in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. It has since spread to other cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.
Hong Kong, which has six confirmed cases, said that from Monday it would ban residents of Hubei province or people who have visited Hubei in the past 14 days from entering the city. The rule does not apply to Hong Kong residents.
Passengers wearing protective masks arrive at Sydney International Airport.Credit:AAP
On Sunday, China announced a temporary nationwide ban on the sale of wildlife in markets, restaurants and e-commerce platforms.
Wild and often poached animals packed together in Chinese markets are blamed as incubators for viruses to evolve and jump the species barrier to humans.
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Snakes, peacocks, crocodiles and other species can also be found for sale via Taobao, an e-commerce website run by Alibaba.
The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society called on China to make the ban permanent.
The US State Department said it would relocate personnel at its Wuhan consulate to the United States and would offer a limited number of seats to private US citizens on a flight to San Francisco on January 28.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Sunday that his government was working with Chinese authorities to arrange a charter flight for any Japanese nationals who wished to return from Wuhan.
The World Health Organisation has stopped short of calling the outbreak a global health emergency, but some health experts question whether China can continue to contain the epidemic.
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No fatalities have been reported outside China.
The outbreak has prompted widening curbs on movements within China, with Wuhan, a city of 11 million, in virtual lockdown, with transports links all but severed except for emergency vehicles.
Health authorities in Beijing urged people not to shake hands but instead salute using a traditional cupped-hand gesture. The advice was sent in a text message that went out to mobile phone users in the city on Sunday morning.
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Beijing also postponed the reopening of the city's schools and universities after the Lunar New Year holiday, state radio reported. Hong Kong had already delayed the reopening of schools until February 17.
Five cases have been confirmed with the patients hospitalised and 25 cases have been discounted in the US in travellers from Wuhan, from 100 who were being investigated.
On Saturday, Canada declared a first "presumptive" confirmed case in a resident who had returned from Wuhan.
China has called for transparency in managing the crisis, after a cover-up of the spread of the deadly SARS virus eroded public trust, but officials in Wuhan have been criticised for their handling of the current outbreak.
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"People in my hometown all suspect the real infected patients number given by authorities," said Violet Li, who lives in the Wuhan district where the seafood market is located.
"I go out with a mask twice a day to walk the dog - that's the only outdoor activity," she told Reuters by text message.
The outbreak has overshadowed the start of the Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad to be with families, with public events cancelled and many tourist sites shut.
Overall passenger travel declined by nearly 29 per cent on Saturday, the first day of the Lunar New Year, from a year earlier, with air passengers down nearly 42 per cent, a transportation ministry official said.
Many cinemas across China are also closed with major film premieres postponed.
Cruise operators including Royal Caribbean Cruises, Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises and Astro Ocean Cruises said that they cancelled a combined 12 cruises that had been scheduled to embark from Chinese ports before February 2.
Hong Kong Disneyland and the city's Ocean Park were closed on Sunday. Shanghai Disneyland, which expected 100,000 visitors daily through the Lunar New Year holidays, has already closed.
Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, although some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of these efforts.
AP, Reuters, Washington Post