The US State Department warns people to be cautious when coming to China due to the spread of pneumonia.

"We updated the Travel Warning to China to supplement the pneumonia epidemic. The alert is still at level 2 - Increasing caution," the State Department said yesterday.

The agency's homepage previously displayed a warning at level 3. "We apologize for any misunderstanding. The alert level has not changed," a State Department spokesman said.

Acute pneumonia caused by a completely new strain of the corona family (nCoV) began in Wuhan, central China from late December 2019 and quickly spread to other cities and appeared in Thailand and Japan. , South Korea, USA, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

Chinese media confirmed that more than 630 people had acute pneumonia, of which 17 died as of January 23. Three cities in Hubei Province, Wuhan, Huangjiang and Ngauzhou, have blocked rail, air, long-distance buses and public transport to control the outbreak.

Chinese authorities have claimed the disease could be transmitted from person to person while the World Health Organization (WHO) is considering declaring a state of emergency. Beijing has also canceled events to celebrate the Chinese New Year and urges residents to avoid crowded places to cope with the epidemic.

Countries with patients infected with Wuhan pneumonia virus as of January 23. Click on the image to see it in full.