Beijing's chief medical advisor on the novel coronavirus has questioned the US governments' abilities to fight the pandemic amid a tit-for-tat row between the two nations over the global emergency.

Epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan claimed he worried about what would happen in America, adding 'the problem of the US will be the problem of the world', according to reports.

He warned of a looming global disaster if the killer bug continues to spread at the current rate. He urged the US authorities to enforce stricter lockdown measures.

Beijing's chief medical advisor Dr Zhong (pictured on February 27) said he worried about what would happen in America, adding 'the problem of the US will be the problem of the world'

More than a million people across the world have contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and over 53,000 have died of it.

The pandemic first emerged last December in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China.

Dr Zhong, the leader of a team of Chinese experts dealing with the crisis, made the comments while discussing the containment of COVID-19 with other experts at a meeting, reported Chinese media.

Medical staff move bodies from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center to a refrigerated truck on April 2 in Brooklyn, New York. The US now has the most coronavirus cases in the world

After being asked to comment on the containment efforts of South Korea and the US, he said America had advanced screening methods to identify infections, but it must carry out tougher isolation measures.

In particular, he urged the US officials to strengthen its control over carriers who don't show symptoms and called for immediately prevention efforts in the southern part of the United States.

He praised South Korea for its quick response in detecting and tracking patients.

When asked about his biggest fear, he said: 'What I am worried about is that in some foreign countries right now, [the virus] is spreading very fast.

'Like each day, [the number of daily cases] will increase by 10,000 or something like that. That is a big problem.'

He claimed that a soaring number of patients would create a burden on medical resources, leading to 'a vicious circle' in nations' attempts to control the crisis.

'In particular in some big country, once it cannot stop the spread, it will bring a disaster of the whole world,' he urged.

'None of the countries will be safe and exempted. This is what worries me the most.'

He stressed that draconian quarantine measures, social distancing rules and an order for the public to wear face masks were the best ways to fight the virus.

Dr Zhong's remarks come after China declared over the weekend that it had largely blocked the transmissions of the pathogen.

Beijing now views the virus as a 'foreign' problem and has increased its efforts to screen 'imported cases'.

Doubts have been raised over Beijing's honesty and transparency for its official figures about the coronavirus outbreak. A vendor wearing a face mask is pictured selling soup today on a street at a residential area blocked by barriers in Wuhan, where the pandemic first emerged

The Chinese health authority reported a total of 81,620 infections and 3,322 deaths as of today.

But doubts have been raised over Beijing's honesty and transparency for the figures.

A classified briefing from Washington revealed that China was covering up the full extent of its epidemic, an insider told Bloomberg News.

US Vice President Mike Pence (pictured on April 1) has blamed the United States' slow response on China and the US CDC. He told CNN on Wednesday: 'The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming'

While US Vice President Mike Pence blamed the United States' slow response partially on China.

He told CNN on Wednesday: 'The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming.

'I mean the reality is that China's been more transparent with regard to the coronavirus than certainly they were for other infectious diseases over the last 15 years.

'But what appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.'

Hua Chunying (pictured), a spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has condemned 'those who are in charge of the US', labelling their action as 'shameless'

Beijing condemned Pence's statement, labelling Washington's leaders as 'shameless' and 'immoral'. A spokesperson yesterday accused the White House of controlling the reports on the coronavirus outbreak in America.

The two countries have accused each other of being the origin of the global outbreak.

The United States now has the most coronavirus cases in the world, followed by Spain, Italy, Germany and China.

Yesterday, it became the first country in the world to hit 1,000 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours after registering 1,047 fatalities.

Overall, America has registered more than 245,000 infections and over 6,000 deaths, with the state of New York being the epicentre.