Department of Health working on detailed plan of action following Chinese coronavirus outbreak

Officials want to make sure South Africa is prepared with an infection control programme should the need arise.

The country's ports of entry have been placed on high alert and officials have been told to look out for anyone displaying flu-like symptoms.

The Department's Lwazi Manzi says they are meeting with various health bodies as more cases are reported in countries overseas, including the WHO and NICD. 

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Manzi points out that no cases of the SARS-like virus have been reported in the country: "South Africans might be assured that we do have all the systems in place to ensure that such an eventually does not come to pass."

Wuhan, a Chinese city of eleven million people, is to temporarily shut public transport as it tries to halt the outbreak of a deadly new virus.

Those living in the city have been advised not to leave.

There are now more than 500 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 17 people have died.

The new strain of coronavirus that emerged in China may have originated in bats or snakes, according to genetic analysis of the virus that has so far killed 17 people.