Davos - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States has a plan in place to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said:

"We do have a plan and we think it is going to be handled very well. We've already handled it very well. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) is terrific. Very professional..."

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The death toll from a new flu-like coronavirus in China rose to nine on Wednesday with 440 confirmed cases, Chinese health officials said as authorities stepped up efforts to control the outbreak.

Another 2 197 people who came into contact with infected people were isolated, with 765 so far released from observation, National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin told reporters, adding that there was already evidence that the virus was being spread through "respiratory transmission".

"Recently there has been a big change in the number of cases, which is related to our deepening our understanding of the disease, improving diagnostic methods and optimising the distribution of diagnostic kits," Li said.