The Hospital Authority said public hospitals, as of noon today and over the past 24 hours, admitted seven patients who met the reporting criteria of novel coronavirus infection.

The authority said the patients, three males and four females who are between 28 months and 80 years of age, are being treated at Princess Margaret, North District, Tuen Mun and ​Prince of Wales hospitals.

The patients' specimens have been sent to the Department of Health for testing.

Currently, there are 11 patients still under isolation, of which 10 are in a stable condition while the other is in a critical condition in North District Hospital due to an underlying disease.

Under the updated regulation, medical practitioners need to make a report to the Centre for Health Protection if they encounter an individual with fever and acute respiratory illness or pneumonia who had visited Wuhan within 14 days before the symptoms' appearance.

The centre also said today that according to the National Health Commission (NHC), four more cases of novel coronavirus infection were recorded in Wuhan.

The additional cases involved four men who developed symptoms from January 5 to 8.

As of January 16, the total number of novel coronavirus infection cases in Wuhan was 45. Among them, 15 patients were discharged, five are in a serious condition and two died, while the remaining patients are in a stable condition.

A total of 763 close contacts have been identified. All have been put under medical surveillance with 665 of them having completed the surveillance. No related cases have been detected so far.