The Hubei Health Commission holds a press conference to brief the latest updates on the new coronavirus outbreak. The number of confirmed cases has been on the rise, crossing the 2,000 mark in China. The provincial-level jurisdictions of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Hunan, Zhejiang, Hubei and Anhui, among others, have activated their Level I emergency response, the highest response mechanism.

The outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, in December 2019. Health experts say that human-to-human transmission of the new strain has been confirmed.