Human-to-Human Transmission Confirmed in China Coronavirus

Travelers wear face masks as they walk outside of the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing on Jan. 20, 2020. China reported on Monday a sharp rise in the number of people infected with a new coronavirus, including the first cases in the capital. The outbreak coincides with the country's busiest travel period, as millions board trains and planes for the Lunar New Year holidays. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

BEIJING—The head of a Chinese government expert team said on Jan. 20 that human-to-human transmission has been confirmed in an outbreak of a new coronavirus, a development that raises the possibility that it could spread more quickly and widely.

Team leader Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert, said two people in Guangdong Province in southern China caught the virus from family members, state media said. Some medical workers have also tested positive for the virus, according to the English-language state-run newspaper China Daily.