Professor Neil Ferguson, an infectious disease expert says he believes there are around 50,000 new Coronavirus cases per day.

The director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis claimed that the scale of the virus is not being reported by Chinese officials.

Professor Ferguson explained that only 10% of infections in China are being detected. While the rate of detection is better abroad, even then almost three-quarters of infections are going undetected.

‘We have no vaccines, though vaccines are being rapidly developed, it will take months if not years,’ said Ferguson, when asked about a cure.

While isolation is currently the main way of preventing the outbreak, Ferguson added that it ‘remains to be seen’ whether this will be effective enough.

‘Quite a lot of people infected may just have quite mild respiratory disease and may not even seek healthcare for it. If those people are transmitting, then it will be very hard to stop transmission overall.’

Wuhan city constructed a 1,000-bed hospital to treat patients who have been infected by the virus.

Authorities have also converted other buildings into makeshift medical facilities to combat the spread.

Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to the UK has accused UK authorities of overreacting to the virus.

On Tuesday, the UK became the first country to advise all its citizens to leave China.

‘We believe the epidemic is controllable, preventable and curable’ said Ambassador Liu Xiaoming.