The pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China will not be as serious as the previous respiratory disease outbreak, China's leading expert during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, Zhong Nanshan, said according to state-run China Daily.

Zhong said that the new coronavirus had been identified only two weeks after its outbreak and that "very good" quarantine measures and monitoring of the virus had been developed.

He said he believed that "the outbreak will not have the impact on society and the economy that SARS did 17 years ago".

Number of cases still expected to rise for Chinese New Year

Zhong added that the number of cases was still expected to rise for Chinese New Year, however, given the large number of people travelling around China, thereby facilitating the spread of the disease, China Daily further highlighted.

Thus far, China has confirmed 291 cases of Wuhan pneumonia, CNA reported.

Zhong explained that the recent surge in cases has been the result of two factors:

• New testing methods with an improved efficiency in detecting suspected cases, and
• The authorisation of local authorities to confirm such cases on their own, provided the patient has tested positive for the virus twice.

Zhong elaborated that previously, only the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other national authorities could confirm the disease, which slowed down confirmation.

Zhong himself was tasked to lead a high-level expert team by China's National Health Commission on Jan. 20.

Two new cases confirmed in Guangdong

Zhong also confirmed that two people in Guangdong province had been infected with the virus The New York Times (NYT) reported.

Both individuals appeared to have been infected by family relatives who had recently returned from Wuhan.

In another case, 14 medical workers appeared to have contracted the disease as well from a patient.

Zhong has affirmed that this is evidence of human-to-human transmission of the disease -- a confirmation that comes right before Chinese New Year, the world’s largest annual migration event.

Global Times: People sceptical of China's information on disease

Separately, the state-run Global Times ran an article urging the public to "remain clam, get the whole picture of the epidemic situation and analyse the situation objectively".

It noted that there was scepticism of the Chinese government's efforts to reveal information on the disease as a result of its legacy in handling the SARS outbreak in 2003 and explained that the current situation on the new virus still remained unclear.

As per the Global Times:

"As the epidemic situation remains unclear and China has not entered into a state of mobilisation, the Chinese government tends to issue the information in pursuit of stability and accuracy, instead of making predictions that could result in panic. But this is not like the situation in the early stages of SARS."

Global Times also gave a rare acknowledgement to how the current outbreak had been covered in a more "timely" manner by Western media than China, and stated that "all parts" of the country had to build up the same information dissemination capabilities.

The article added: "Doing so would help increase the public's confidence in the face of complexities."

Here's what you need to know about the Wuhan outbreak:

Top image from REUTERS/Stringer CHINA OUT