One of the 96 confirmed novel coronavirus patients in Shanghai once traveled to south China's Guangdong Province and consumed wild animal meat, said Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai's Health Commission, during a press conference on Wednesday. 

Previous reports suggest that the virus may have originated from wild animals traded in a seafood market in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province.

According to Wu, 71 of the 96 patients with the virus have had a history of residing in or traveling to Hubei. He said 22 have had contact with infected patients, but two have had no contact with Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, whatsoever. The coronavirus can be transmitted via human-to-human contact, as confirmed by the medical experts.

Three of the patients are currently in critical condition, one has died, and five have recovered and were discharged from the hospital.

Wu said the city has enhanced its scope and intensity of infection screening measures, covering the road junctions, ports, docks, train stations, airports and communities. Sixteen more cases were confirmed in Shanghai within the first 12 hours of January 29.

The Shanghai authorities have been holding a daily media briefing on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus in the municipality since Sunday, January 26.  Starting Wednesday, the city will increase the updates to twice a day.

On January 29, Shanghai's foreign affairs office and health commission also briefed 66 Consul institutions and 105 officials from various countries on the situation in the municipality.

(Cover photo credit: CCTV)