LONDON — Citing Chinese officials, the BBC reports that the coronavirus outbreak in China's city of Wuhan has killed three people and infected over 200 as of Monday.
The news comes days after researchers at London Imperial College's MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis warned that there may be far more infection cases than what Beijing had reported.
Citing the MRC GIDA, the BBC reports that the China-based virus outbreak has infected two people in Thailand and one in Japan.
The researchers say that their model, based on the virus, Wuhan's population and flight data, estimates that more than 1,700 people have been infected.
Chinese authorities speculate that the virus likely crossed the species barrier from infected animals to people at a seafood and wildlife market in Wuhan.
Citing an MRC-GIDA researcher, the BBC says that the authorities should seriously consider the possibility of "substantial human-to-human transmission." According to the BBC, the new coronavirus more closely resembles SARs than any other viral strain.
Coronavirus is a large family of viruses and only seven are known to infect humans, including the new one discovered in China.