"Our National Incident Response Centre has been activated and is helping coordinate our response [to the possible threat of the coronavirus] with Commonwealth medical experts working together with states and territories," Morrison tweeted.

The prime minister also said that the threat of virus transmission in Australia remained low but was "evolving." Morrisson added that Australians should be on alert but not alarmed as the country had "the best health system in the world."

On Tuesday, health authorities in the northeastern state of Queensland quarantined a man in the city of Brisbane in the first such case in Australia.

According to the latest data, the death toll from the coronavirus in China increased to nine people on Wednesday, while confirmed cases of virus reportedly climbed to more than 440. Outside China, symptoms caused by the coronavirus have been detected in Thailand, Japan, South Korea and the United States.