A staff member checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau on January 22, 2020, after the former Portuguese colony reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus that originated from Wuhan in China | Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images EU health agency ups risk of China virus import into Europe to ‘moderate’ Experts confirmed the virus can be transmitted between people.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has scaled up the risk of importing cases of the novel coronavirus identified in China from "low" to "moderate," after experts confirmed it can be transmitted between people.

Given that the source of the infection, which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is "unknown and could still be active," the likelihood of infection of people visiting the city who came in close contact with those carrying the virus is considered "moderate," the ECDC said in an update dated January 21.

In turn, the likelihood that travelers could import cases into Europe has risen to "moderate" given the increased travel to and from China over the Chinese New Year celebrations, the ECDC said.

Three airports in the EU have direct flight connections to Wuhan, the ECDC said, without specifying them. These are London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Rome Fiumicino, according to FlightConnections.com.

Following that announcement, U.K. authorities said Wednesday they'll impose enhanced monitoring on all three direct flights a week from Wuhan to London. This includes the use of an isolated area of Heathrow airport, Terminal 4, to receive the aircraft. They will also request that the captains of those aircraft inform them of any passenger illness at least an hour before landing.

A medical team will receive passengers and check for symptoms of coronavirus, as well as inform them about what to do if they start feeling ill.

At the same time, the country’s health department said the risk that the virus poses to Britain is low. “This has been raised from very low due to current evidence on the likelihood of cases being imported into this country,” it added.

Public Health England has developed a diagnostic test for the disease, which makes the U.K. one of the first countries in the world, besides China, to have a prototype specific laboratory test for this novel disease, it said.

Patients have shown symptoms such as fever and labored breathing, and were initially diagnosed as having viral pneumonia, the ECDC said. The death toll in China on Wednesday rose to 17, according to multiple media reports. Some 440 people have been infected.

If a case is identified in the EU, authorities should apply rigorous infection prevention and control measures, the ECDC said in a risk assessment note last week.

The World Health Organization is expected to say Wednesday night whether it deems the virus a public health emergency of international concern, and what kind of measures authorities around the world should take to prevent the virus' spread.

This story has been updated.