Everything you need to know about the new coronavirus

How many people are currently infected by the virus? How is it transmitted? And which precautionary measures are recommended to stop it spreading?

How easily can the new coronavirus spread?

According to a report by

China's state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday, 77 new confirmed coronavirus infections have been registered. Since the outbreak began in December 2019, roughly 300 people have become infected with the virus. Elderly citizens tend to be more often affected by the virus than others. So far, six individuals, who developed chronic respiratory disease after contracting the virus, have died.

Thailand, Japan and South Korea have also reported cases of coronavirus infections. According to news agency AFP, Australia and the Philippines are each investigating one suspected coronavirus infection. On

Tuesday, US authorities reported their first case of the virus in Washington state. All those infected by, or suspected of having contracted, the virus previously spent time in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

With the Chinese travel rush underway ahead of the Lunar New Year on Saturday, there is an increased risk of the virus spreading further. Each year, hundreds of millions of Chinese travel both domestically and abroad during this time. Several of China's neighboring countries and airports elsewhere have begun checking arrivals for

symptoms of fever and introduced other security measures.

Concerns over the virus have sent Asian stockmarkets tumbling.

How is the virus transmitted? Chinese healthcare authorities have confirmed that the coronavirus can be transmitted between humans. So far, however, there are no indications the virus is transmitted via the respiratory tract. One unanswered question now remains as to how infectious the virus really is, and whether or not it mutates and adapts to its human host.

The first infections were traced back to a Wuhan fish and wild animal market, which has now been shut down. The virus might have been transmitted through direct contact between humans and animals, or simply via the air like many germs.

Viruses that can spread between humans and animals cause so-called zoonotic diseases. Such viruses may be transmitted when humans consume meat or animal products — or if such products were insufficiently heated or prepared in an unsanitary environment.

What do we know about the virus?

Experts recently decoded the coronavirus' gene sequence, which is also known as 2019nCoV. Coronaviruses were first discovered in the 1960s and their name derives from their corona-like shape. Viruses of this kind are not per se lethal, and often cause little more than fever, coughing and shortness of breath. Sometimes, they also lead to gastrointestinal disorders and diarrhea, in particular.

But coronaviruses, which are RNA viruses, are also extremely adaptable and genetically diverse. This means they can easily spread between and infect different species. Some of them therefore also cause serious illnesses that lead to difficulty breathing, pneumonia and even death.

In 2002 and 2003, for example, the aggressive SARS-CoV coronavirus lead to an epidemic in 30 countries. Over the world, more than 8,000 people became infected with the virus, about 1,000 died. And in 2012, the

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was discovered on the Arabian Peninsula.

Which measures can be taken to stop the outbreak?

The World Health Organization ( WHO) is convening a crisis meeting on Wednesday. A special committee will debate whether or not to declare an international public health emergency. This could entail setting up quarantine areas, tightening border checks, setting up special treatment centers and restricting international travel.

Already today, Chinese and other Asian airports have introduced fever checks, as have US and Italian authorities. Currently, however, neither the WHO nor Germany's Foreign Ministry have issued a travel warning for the Chinese city of Wuhan.

As always, it is advisable to practice good hygiene and caution, for example by avoiding close contact with individuals suffering from acute respiratory infections, or with wild animals or livestock, dead or alive. It is recommended to regularly wash one's hands, especially after being in direct contact with ill persons.

Health experts do not expect this new coronavirus to spread globally. Virologist Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit of Hamburg's Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, says that no special precautions need to be taken in Germany. In his opinion, the "current threat is very low." But he says it is key that "the WHO, Robert Koch Institute [the German government's central biomedicine research center] and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control permanently monitor the situation."

A number of governments have begun screening air passengers from China