UAE health officials announced a new case of coronavirus in the country on Saturday evening.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention said the male patient, who arrived in the country from the virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, was in a stable condition and was receiving medical care.

He is the fifth confirmed case in the country.

A Chinese family of four already diagnosed with coronavirus remain under medical care, the ministry said.

The mother, father, nine-year-old girl and grandmother from Wuhan were confirmed to have the virus after visiting a local health clinic, a week into their trip.

They arrived in the Emirates on January 16 and took the grandmother to a doctor with flu-like symptoms on January 23, a top health official said.

Officials are retracing the family's steps to find out who they came into contact with.

More than 10,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus in more than 20 countries.

Last week, the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus epidemic an international public health emergency.

The designation is rarely used and could lead to improved international co-ordination in tackling the disease.

"Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in Geneva.

Chinese children wear plastic bottles as an improvised protective mask while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing, China. Getty Images A medical staff member getting lunch boxes for patients through a window in an isolation ward at a hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province, during the virus outbreak in the city. The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the new coronavirus, as China reported January 31 the death toll had climbed to 213 with nearly 10,000 infections. AFP A man who arrived from Hubei province sits near a checkpoint after being refused entry at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus. Reuters Staff members of a funeral parlour spray disinfectant after transferring a body at a hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. AFP Police stand at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that crosses from Hubei province into Jiujiang, Jiangxi province. Reuters Tuk-tuk driver and passengers wear protective facemasks while travelling on street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. AFP People wearing protective facemasks leave the city commuter train station in Bangkok. AFP Officials carry out disinfection work before the arrival of South Korean evacuees from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, at a state facility in Asan, South Korea. EPA People queue to purchase face masks at a medical supply store in Manila, Philippines. EPA Flight attendants and quarantine officials disembark from South Korea's first evacuation plane carrying 367 nationals arriving from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan. EPA Flight attendants wear protective face masks at Brisbane International Airport in Brisbane. EPA

The US State Department raised its warning alert to the highest level, telling Americans "do not travel" to China and urged those already there to leave.

Singapore, Vietnam and Mongolia went a step further.

Citing a likely "sharper rise" in the spread of the virus, Singapore's government barred arrivals and transit passengers who visited China in the past 14 days, and stopped issuing all forms of new visas to Chinese passport holders.

Mongolia will ban Chinese nationals and foreigners coming from the country by plane, train or road from Saturday until March 2. Mongolians will be barred from going to China over the same period.

In Vietnam, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered the suspension of new tourist visas for Chinese citizens and foreigners who have been in China over the last two weeks.