Coronavirus latest: US confirms further cases as French citizens prepare to be evacuated from Wuhan

The US has confirmed five cases of coronavirus as France announced plans to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, following the outbreak which has killed at least 56 people.

It comes as China's National Health Commision said the virus' transmission ability is getting stronger and infections could continue to rise.

French health minister Agnès Buzyn said on Sunday that citizens in the Chinese city will be evacuated back to France by aeroplane.

The country has so far confirmed three cases of the deadly virus - the first in Europe.

Meanwhile the latest US cases were confirmed in Pheonix and Los Angeles, following three cases in Seattle, Chicago and Orange County.

Another 25 people have tested negative for the illness, but at least 100 more possible cases are being investigated, Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a conference call with reporters.

She said to expect more cases to be reported in the United States in coming days.

The individual in Los Angeles was returning from Wuhan, China and is currently receiving medical treatment, the health agency said.

The case came on the heels of confirmed cases in Orange County, California, Washington state and Chicago.

The Centers for Disease Control confirmed the Orange County case - also a traveller from Wuhan.

The patient tested positive for the virus, the Orange County Health Care Agency announced late Saturday and is in isolation at a hospital.

The first two patients - in Seattle, a man in his 30s, and in Chicago, a woman in her 60s - had also travelled to China.

Meanwhile Canada's chief medical officer said on Sunday that an individual who was declared the country's first "presumptive" confirmed case of the novel coronavirus had developed symptoms on the plane while travelling from Wuhan to Toronto.

The province of Ontario health officials on Saturday said a man in his 50s developed a respiratory illness after arriving in Toronto on January 22 from Wuhan and was being treated in a public hospital and in isolation.

Theresa Tam, Canada's chief health officer, told reporters in Ottawa that the patient had mild symptoms while on the flight, though he did not report his condition after landing at the Toronto airport.

The individual arrived via China Southern Airlines flight CZ311 from Guangzhou to Toronto.

Ms Tam said health officials are in the early process of contacting other travellers on that flight.

But Ms Tam said other people on the flight or airport that were not close to the patient should not be overly concerned.

Canada's Health Minister Patty Hajdu announced that the National Microbiology Laboratory will take up to 24 hours to confirm the findings on the local laboratory.

Once once NML tests are confirmed positive, then Canada will announce its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus.

Canada is on high alert to prevent the spread of coronavirus and avoid the repeat of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, that killed 44 people in Canada, the only country outside Asia to report deaths from that virus in 2002-2003. Government health officials say Canada is better prepared this time.

China's National Health Commission said on Sunday the ability of the new coronavirus to spread is strengthening and infections could continue to rise, after more than 2,000 people were infected in China and 56 have died.

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