New China Virus: Death Toll Rises Amid Epidemic Fear

As the recent outbreak of the new virus in China has been confirmed in four other countries, the death toll from contagious virus has risen to nine in its country of origin, local media said on Wednesday.

Health officials in China said nine fatalities were recorded in the central Wuhan city where the fatal virus originated last month, Chinese daily ECNS reported. They added that 440 people were confirmed infected inside the country.

With the coronavirus raising alarm across the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) will hold an emergency meeting in Geneva today.

Chinese health officials already confirmed the human-to-human transmission of the fatal virus.

Meanwhile, a new discovery of Chinese investigators revealed that the virus was transmitted to humans through "wild animals".

According to Gao Fu, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDCP), the new coronavirus was transmitted via wild animals illegally sold at a seafood market in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province.

Gao warned the new strain was "adapting and mutating", South China Morning Post reported.

A study conducted by the University of Hong Kong's WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control suggested that the virus spread fast inside mainland China and might be worse than what is being said in public.

The study estimated that almost 1,350 people were infected between Jan. 1-20 in Wuhan.

Japan, South Korea, Thailand and now the U.S. confirmed that they found cases affected by the same virus.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to SARS. Some cause less-severe disease and some more severe. Some transmit easily from person to person, while others don't.

The spread of the new disease in China coincided with the New Year celebrations in the country when millions of people will be traveling to their hometowns from cities to celebrate holidays which have already started.

The mass travel of people has raised the alarm that the disease may spread further.

Mayor of Wuhan Zhou Xianwang urged people not to travel to and from the city in order to combat the ongoing pneumonia outbreak. -