A special WHO committee will meet on Wednesday and decide whether to call for the emergency. But already on Tuesday, the organization warned of the spread of the virus.

The WHO has only announced an emergency a handful of times before, such as the swine flu in 2009 and during the Ebola epidemic in western Africa 2014–2016.

More provinces

In parallel, updates on the new corona virus were tight: A total of 291 cases were confirmed in China, according to the country's health commission. The infection was found in yet another Chinese province, Zhejiang, where five people became ill.

Six dead in Wuhan

In the province of Henan, the sale of live poultry in markets is prohibited in order to reduce the spread of infection. And in the central Chinese state of Wuhan, where the disease was first discovered, the number of dead has now risen to six people, according to Mayor Zhou Xianwang.

- A total of 258 cases have been confirmed in the city, says the mayor in an interview with state television.

Caregivers

At least 15 of them must be health care professionals who have been infected with pneumonia.

Furthermore, Philippine authorities are investigating a possible case - a five-year-old Chinese boy with flu-like symptoms who has been in Wuhan. Australian authorities also carry out tests on a sick traveler who has been to China and is kept isolated in his home. A case has already been identified in South Korea.

The US also confirms its first case, CNN reports.

According to a spokesperson for the US Public Health Agency CDC, it is a passenger who came from China diagnosed with the virus in Seattle, Reuters writes. The CDC will present more information on the case later on Tuesday.

fever Controls

According to state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, the spread to more countries was more or less expected, as it is currently traveling from the country of origin China. The new cases do not currently change any Swedish controls.

At the same time, airports in, for example, Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and the United States have announced that they have begun to expand checks, including fever screening, for travelers from central China.