The World Health Organization announced Monday that it would convene an expert panel to determine whether a fast-developing outbreak caused by a new virus in China should be declared a global health emergency.

The news came as China reported confirmed cases in Beijing and in Guangdong province, 14 cases in health care workers—a first—and a confirmed incident involving the human-to-human spread of the new virus, known provisionally as 2019-nCoV. It is a coronavirus, from the same family as the viruses that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, which sickened more than 8,000 people globally, killing nearly 800.

It also comes as China prepares to celebrate the Lunar New Year when people throughout the country travel to be with family. Experts fear this event could spread the virus widely.

Reference: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/who-calls-for-emergency-meeting-as-chinese-virus-spreads-to-health-care-workers/