Coronavirus Outbreak: China Confirms New Strain Can Transmit Human-To-Human As It Claims Six Lives

China has confirmed that a new strain of the infamous respiratory Coronavirus is prone to human-to-human transmission. Authorities on Tuesday confirmed the virus has killed six and sickened over 258 people in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

Zhong Nanshan, the head of a Chinese government expert team, confirmed that two people in Guangdong province in southern China contracted the disease from their family members.

"The current cases show there is definitely human-to-human transmission," he told a Chinese state-run channel CCTV on Monday.

The outbreak began in Wuhan in December. Coronavirus was said to usually transmit from animals to humans. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said several cases of the infection were reported among Chinese travelers in Thailand and South Korea. Japan had also confirmed a case after a Japanese citizen visited Wuhan. No cases were reported in the United States thus far.

The virus has now spread out to other Chinese cities including Shanghai and the capital, Beijing. WHO was reportedly looking to schedule a meeting Wednesday over the necessity to declare an international health emergency.

Wuhan appears to be the hotbed of the virus and the primary source was believed to have been an animal in a local seafood market. The market was temporarily shut down and thoroughly disinfected, according to China Daily.

Officials in China are working to crack down on the further spread of the disease. Wuhan has canceled the Lunar New Year celebration which was expected to attract thousands of visitors.

Experts believe the new strain may be less deadly as compared to the previous instances like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus that killed nearly 800 people worldwide after emerging from China during 2002-2003, according to Reuters.