BEIJING — The Chinese authorities on Sunday said that 17 more...

BEIJING — The Chinese authorities on Sunday said that 17 more people had been infected with a mysterious new virus, adding to concerns about the spread of the illness ahead of China’s busiest travel season.
The health commission in Wuhan, a central city, said in a statement that the infected people began showing symptoms of the pneumonia like coronavirus as recently as last week.
Three are now in critical condition, the commission said.
The new cases suggest that the illness, which has killed two people and sickened at least 62 in China, is continuing to spread.
Public health officials are working to stop a major outbreak of the virus ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of people in China are expected to travel.
The holiday begins Friday.Already, the virus appears to have spread outside China’s borders.
Officials in Thailand and Japan have confirmed three cases involving people who have traveled through Wuhan.The authorities said that most people with the infection had contracted it through exposure to animals at a market in Wuhan that sells seafood and live animals, and it was uncertain whether the virus could spread from human to human.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/coronavirus-china-reports-17-new-cases-of-sars-like-mystery-virus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other