Coronavirus is getting WORSE and can spread before any symptoms show making it worse than SARS
THE killer virus which has put the world on red alert can be passed on to others before the infected even know they are sick - making it almost impossible to contain.
Medics are racing to halt a pandemic after it was revealed coronavirus - which has claimed multiple lives - is more contagious and much harder to detect than SARS.
China's Health minister Ma Xiaowei revealed the incubation period for the deadly bug can range from one to 14 days - and it is infectious throughout this time.
This was not the case with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, which also originated in China and killed nearly 800 people globally in 2002 and 2003.
People with SARS and also Ebola are contagious ONLY when symptoms appear.
Such outbreaks are relatively easy to stop as all the authorities have to do is identify and isolate the sick and monitor anyone they came into contact with.
The worrying news comes after China admitted the ability of the highly-infectious virus to spread is now growing STRONGER by the day.
The authorities in Beijing also said so little is known about the new strain of the virus they are still unclear on the risks posed by it mutating.
"According to recent clinical information, the virus' ability to spread seems to be getting somewhat stronger," Mr Xiaowei told reporters.
More than 2,000 people have been infected worldwide and 56 have died from the virus which is believed to have started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
The outbreak is believed to have originated late last year in a seafood market that was illegally selling wildlife.
NATIONWIDE BAN ON WILDLIFE TRADE
China's market watchdog, agricultural ministry and forestry bureau announced a nationwide temporary ban on the wildlife trade in a joint statement today.
Any places that breed wildlife should be isolated, and the transportation of wildlife should be banned, said the statement.
Chinese officials have hit back at reports that the government is hiding the scale of the outbreak.
The news comes as an unnamed nurse, who claims to working in a Wuhan hospital, said 90,000 people had been infected - a far cry from the state reported number of 1,975 infections.
Mr Xiaowei told face-masked reporters at a press conference today, that the authorities have cranked up efforts to stop the spread of the virus after admitting that they have limited knowledge of how the disease mutates.
"After the outbreak of the disease we have followed the principles of openness and transparency and have conducted full communication and cooperation with the WHO [World Health Organisation], relevant countries and also Hong Kong," said Mr Xiaowei.
"We have invited WHO experts to Wuhan to check the situation on the ground. We have provided diagnosis kits to Hong Kong and Macau free of charge."
The health minister also revealed Beijing is sharing information with other nations after the US, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, France all confirmed cases.
Chinese president Xi Jinping described the situation as "grave" on Saturday.
On the same day Canada declared a first "presumptive" confirmed case in a resident who had returned from Wuhan.
Health officials in Orange County, California, reported that a third case of the virus had been registered in the US in a traveller from Wuhan, who was in isolation and in good condition.
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The Lunar New Year holiday, traditionally celebrated by millions of Chinese travelling around the country and abroad to see family, began on Friday but has been severely disrupted by the outbreak.
Mr Xiaowei said China would intensify its containment efforts which have so far included transportation and travel curbs and the cancellation of big events.
No fatalities have been reported outside China.
