China's National Health Commission confirmed 830 cases of infection and 25 deaths from a strange pneumonia virus. Most of the cases occurred in the city of Yunnan, where the virus was first detected at the end of last year.
Infection cases but have not caused death have been detected in at least 7 other countries, up to now.
Health officials worry that the transmission rate could increase rapidly as hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel home for Tet and travel abroad during the weekly Tet holiday.
World Health Organization's Committee on Emergencies Didier Houssin said after a meeting in Geneva on January 23 that it was a bit too early to consider it a global public health emergency.
The head of the World Health Organization, Mr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also said, "do not confuse, this is an urgent problem of China, it is not a global emergency".
The World Health Organization said China's closure of the city of 11 million people to limit the spread of the epidemic was unprecedented in the history of public health.
According to AP, also on January 24, the Japanese Ministry of Health confirmed the second case of COVID-19 infection in the country, a 40-year-old tourist from Wukong City, China. The patient is currently being quarantined and treated at Tokyo Hospital.
