China China dispatches 1,600 health professionals to Wuhan City today and tomorrow to cope with the increasing number of pneumonia patients.

In addition, 1,000 other medical personnel were placed in readiness to receive orders to mobilize, Chinese Health Minister Ma Xiaoping said at a press conference today in Beijing.

Officials admit Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, where a new strain of the corona virus (nCoV) causes an outbreak of acute pneumonia, is in a shortage of manpower and medical supplies.

450 Chinese military medical personnel, including many experienced in dealing with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Ebola, were sent to Wuhan. Two field hospitals with 2,300 beds are also under construction to cope with the shortage of beds. The first field hospital is scheduled for completion on February 3.

At a press conference today, Deputy Minister of Industry and Information Technology Wang Jiangping said that Hubei Province needs about 100,000 medical suits a day, but 40 factories across China only produce get 30,000 sets.

According to Mr. Vuong, officials are trying to resume operations of factories during Tet and ask factories specializing in manufacturing export goods to supply medical protective equipment.

The outbreak of pneumonia is thought to have come from a seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, then spread to at least 30 other Chinese localities. More than 2,000 people have been infected and 56 died in China as of January 25.

China issued a ban on raising, transporting or trading wildlife "in any form", effective January 26, to prevent the spread of Wuhan pneumonia.

Other countries that found patients positive for nCoV virus include Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, France, Japan, South Korea, the US, Vietnam and Nepal. Canadian authorities announced a patient with suspected acute pneumonia after returning from Wuhan.