IT IS likely that people in Wales will require assessment for coronavirus, given its continued spread in China, and evidence of person-to-person transmission, said health minister Vaughan Gething.

Attempts are currently being made to trace as many as 2,000 visitors who have flown into the UK from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the new strain of coronavirus first broke out.

The virus has killed 26 people to date and England's Chief Medical Officer Dr Chris Whitty says there is a "fair chance" that cases will be seen in the UK.

The Welsh Government is closely monitoring the emergence of the virus, which originated in Wuhan in China, and chief medical officers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - along with public health experts - are co-ordinating their actions in anticipation of cases here.

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The severity of the illness and its spread are still being assessed, and the World Health Organisation has not to date declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and travel or trade restrictions have not been recommended.

But the UK wants to be ready, and Mr Gething said this is being treated as an "enhanced public health incident".

"The risk to the UK is currently assessed as low and to date there have been no imported cases of the novel coronavirus to Wales or the wider UK," he says in a written statement issued this afternoon.

"The threat from infectious diseases is always with us, and the NHS in Wales and other key responders have plans in place to protect the health of the public."