China on Friday added a ninth city to a transport ban around the epicentre of a deadly virus, bringing the number affected by the shutdown to over 30 million as authorities scramble to control the disease.

An Indian nurse working in Saudi Arabia has tested positive for coronavirus, but with a different strain from the one wreaking havoc in China, Delhi's consulate in Jeddah said Thursday.

Clinical trials for a vaccine against the new virus sweeping China could be carried out in the summer, the head of an anti-epidemic coalition said on Thursday.

Dubai Airport, one of the world's biggest aviation hubs, said Thursday it would carry out thermal screening of all passengers arriving from China amid an outbreak of a deadly virus.

China banned trains and planes from leaving a major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on Thursday, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed 17 lives, infected hundreds and spread to other countries.

Authorities in Wuhan, a major transport hub, also suspended public buses and subways, and said residents should not leave "without a special reason".

European airports from London to Moscow stepped up checks Wednesday on flights from the Chinese city at the heart of a new SARS-like virus that has killed 17 people and spread to the United States.

Britain advised against "all but essential travel" to Wuhan -- the central China city from where the virus spread -- while European health authorities put the threat of the virus spreading to "moderate."

Asian stock markets slumped Tuesday as a SARS-like virus taking hold in China spooked investors, while sentiment suffered a knock also from a credit-ratings downgrade to major financial hub Hong Kong, analysts said.

Asia stepped up its defences Tuesday against a new SARS-like virus, introducing mandatory screenings at airports of arrivals from high-risk areas of China as authorities move to head off a billowing regional health crisis.

China reported 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.

Health authorities in the central city of Wuhan, where the viral pneumonia appears to have originated, said an additional 136 cases have been confirmed in the city, which now has a total of 198 infected patients. As of the weekend, a third patient had died, bringing the death toll to three.

A South Carolina woman was Thursday sentenced to 25 years in jail after she admitted poisoning her husband by putting eye drops in his drinking water.